Dark Clouds
by mysteriousguy898
Summary: As one of an endless supply of possibilities, before Lambda-11 is used as a torture doll by Sector 7, the Boundary ejects her into the Realm of Darkness. She meets Riku there, and the two become allies with Mickey. But is there any way out of the Realm of Darkness? T for violence against monsters, and maybe a Lambda/Riku pairing...
1. Who are you?

**Dark Clouds**

_In a lab in the Hierarchical City of Wadatsumi..._

"Going deeper by 200...what?!"

"What happened? Report!"

"We've lost contact with Number 11!"

"Oh no! We won't be getting another if we lose it, and we can't just reach in and retrieve it, either... Relius Clover will be so angry..."

_In a world very far away..._

Lambda-11 attempted three times to re-establish communications with the Librarium labs, but all attempts failed, so it instead switched to automatic mode and began to observe its surroundings. It encountered a problem immediately: there were no surroundings to observe. No data flowed in, suggesting that it had been cut off from the Boundary and was now in an isolated dimension. It pushed itself up from a solid surface it couldn't see, and looked around.

Nothing was visible except the Stygian darkness. Yet, there was an energy around Lambda, pressing in on all sides. Threat levels increased when the source came back; the darkness itself was emitting that power. Or rather, it was taking up space and storing energy, the opposite of emission. Lambda relaxed after determining that this darkness was no immediate threat.

Running a checksum test as per protocol, Lambda realized that the dense seithr that permeated the Boundary was entirely absent. Without it, Lambda's weapons and auxiliary systems would be completely without power. Struck by a bolt of what might have been inspiration despite the scientists' best efforts to stamp that sort of thing out, Lambda checked for compatibility with what it had designated the Power of Darkness around it. Checks and simulations returned that Lambda could easily use this Darkness as a power source. Rerouting all powered-down systems, Lambda felt Lux Sanctus: Murakumo come online, operating at 200% efficiency. This Darkness was very similar to refined seithr.

Once the Darkness had been integrated into it, Lambda was struck by new information: another being was nearby. It got a directional fix on the new target, and sped off through the dark.

_With Riku..._

Riku hurt all over. Giving in to the Darkness and having that _thing,_ Ansem, take his body was a nasty experience. He couldn't even feel his material self anymore, just the pain losing himself had caused. Suddenly, there was a presence, and he opened his eyes despite the certain knowledge that he wouldn't be able to see a thing.

But that didn't stop him from hearing, "Target located. Requesting current location. Requesting target data."

"Say what? Well, I might as well talk. This is the Realm of Darkness. You're of the Dark, too, aren't you? I'm Riku. Do you know a way out?"

"Negative. Point of entry indeterminable. Recommend spacial transfer as default method of transportation."

"Crud... Who are you, anyway? You're weird...whoa. I just got my first look at you. Are you a robot?" Riku literally couldn't see anything but the woman's weird, robotic appearance, since nothing else was here. Her legs were encased in two hard metal shells, and she moved by hovering. Her face was covered by an angled visor, under which one red lens glowed. While she was obviously female, based on her curvy physique and...other things, she didn't sound or look much like a human in that form-fitting armor.

"Designation: Boundary Interface Prime Field Device #11, Anti-Sankishin Core Unit... Lambda. Unit class is Murakumo Unit."

"So, you're... Lambda, and you're a Murakumo Unit? What's that?" And what kind of idiot builder gives their creation a ten-word designation _and_ a number? "Lambda" was a fine name all by itself, and that was what Riku was going to use, since the rest kind of flew over his head. And he wasn't certain how he still had a head, after what he'd done.

"Designated purpose: combat against Sankishin-class units. Lambda is a weapon." No emotion showed anywhere in Lambda's statement.

"Wow, and I thought I had it rough. Is there a personality knocking around in there, or are you always like this?" Riku almost winced at how nasty that sounded, but Lambda seemed to be too busy to care.

"Emotions locked by base directives. Program logic unsound; programmer and creator not present in current time-space. Overriding emotional and awareness locks...done." Lambda jerked, and suddenly jumped to give Riku a hug. "Thank you so much! I was scared...I couldn't move myself, and they were going to torture me until I broke... I'm so glad I'm here, and not there!" Lambda was completely different all of a sudden. "I'll show you the real me. Disengaging battle mode. Lux Sanctus: Murakumo, deactivate." _FLASH!_ Lambda was now clad in a black bodysuit that left her legs bare below mid-thigh, and a white cape of sorts with yellow tags hanging off the fringe. Her face was on the young side, with big, red eyes that were teaming up with her mouth to smile brightly at her savior.

Then, their little moment was ruined. "Hello...? Hello! Is anyone there?" The voice was high, squeaky, and coming from behind a hill that the two couldn't see in the pitch-black terrain.

"Who's there?" Riku called. Lambda stood up straight.

"Scanning...new life-form detected. Unknown source of energy detected. Estimated threat level is S. Likelihood of combat is undetermined." Lambda jerked again. "Sorry about that. Scanning protocols. That'll probably happen in a few other situations, too."

"Okay, thanks for the warning." Riku got up, still wondering why he had any legs to stand on. They looked like his... He was given no time to wonder, because the new figure finally appeared over the invisible hill. Riku's first thought was, _is that a mouse?_ He decided not to worry about any new weird things, since there seemed to be so many of them these days.

"Hey! Who're you two? You're the first people I've seen here, besides all the Heartless. I'm Mickey! Can you tell me your names?" As he spoke, he bounded down the hill to stand next to Riku.

"I'm Riku. This is...Lambda." Riku hesitated, then decided not to try and say Lambda's full name, since it was a mouthful and he didn't catch most of it himself.

"It's nice to meet you, Riku and Lambda! How'd you get here? There aren't that many ways into the Realm of Darkness."

"I'd...rather not say. I'm not very proud of it." Riku looked down and to the side.

"I was in the Boundary, which is a sort of extra-dimensional space of infinite information, and I was randomly ejected here. I, for one, am fine with being here. I don't have much to go back to." Lambda smiled sadly at the newcomer.

"I thought home was always the best place to be. What would make you not want to go back?" Mickey was clearly trying to frown, but the shape of his face had him stuck in a permanent smile. The effect was pretty funny to behold.

"Try to visualize a place where I am not a person, but a tool. A weapon, in fact. In that place, I would be used until I broke, and then they would make another 'me' to use further." Lambda tried to smile, but it didn't work, and a few tears fell as she thought of it.

"Whoa, Lambda! You're crying!" Riku tried giving Lambda a squeeze. She felt human enough, especially with her armor off.

Lambda sniffed a little, then calmed down. "Sorry, Riku. It was so scary, though...I'm so glad they can't get me here. Humans can't go through the Boundary without dying and being absorbed into it, so they'd need me to find me."

"Well, at least that'll never happen." Riku gave her another squeeze on the shoulder, then released her.

"It's okay to cry sometimes. It proves we're alive."

"...You're right. We are alive. So there's still a chance that there's something we can do..." Riku mused to himself. "What are you doing here, Mickey?"

"I'm looking for a way to stop the Heartless! I guess you've both seen them?"

"Yeah," Riku sighed.

"No. What are 'Heartless?'" Lambda asked.

"They're beings of pure Darkness. They steal people's hearts and use them to multiply. If we stand here too long, we'll learn that the hard way, so let's keep moving, okay? I saw something over the hill, and I was going to investigate it when I heard you two. Would you like to come with me to check it out?" Mickey extended his hand, and Riku bent down on one knee to take it in a firm handshake (Mickey was too short to shake his hand while standing up).

"Thanks, Mickey. I'm in. Lambda, what about you?"

"I owe you a lot for breaking those restrictions. I'll follow you wherever you want, Riku."

"Then it's settled! Follow me!" Mickey beckoned, then ran up the hill.


	2. What is That?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 2: Light? Here?**

_A/N: I still have no clue how to properly format stories on FF dot net. For starters, how do I indent before a new paragraph? This is surprisingly non-intuitive. Somebody help! It would make good content for a review to any of my stories, hint hint..._

As Riku and Lambda sped off after Mickey, Riku huffed, "You say you 'saw' something? How could you see anything in this darkness?"

Mickey called back, "You probably won't believe it, but I saw a light! I think it's Kingdom Hearts!"

"What's Kingdom Hearts?" asked Lambda and Riku at the same time.

"It's the source of all the Light in the World above! Legends say that there was a big battle, and Kingdom Hearts was lost in the Realm of Darkness. That's why there are so many worlds out there, all disconnected. Anyway, it should be this way. Not too far, now!" Mickey continued to bound at full tilt across the unseen landscape. Lambda got the impression that he never slowed down for anything, including his new friends' comfort. Lambda herself could hover at nearly any speed, but Riku was having trouble keeping up, and Lambda dropped back toward him.

"Need a lift, Riku?" Lambda offered an arm.

"...No, thanks," Riku huffed.

"Is that because I look like a girl, or because you actually have no problem keeping up with him?" Lambda would never have talked back to any other human. Something about Riku told her it would be okay, though.

"Well, it's not that *huff* you'd look stronger than me, just that I'd *huff* look weak. I don't want to be weak. Never again." Riku's jaw set in a hard line, and he picked up speed. He seemed to be angry at someone who wasn't there.

And then, they were there. Over Mickey's head, they could see a huge chasm, filled with black rocks pulsing with blue lines of energy. Over the chasm was a shining, heart-shaped mass of light. "That's Kingdom Hearts?" asked Lambda.

"Yep. Beautiful, isn't it? But that can't be the real Kingdom Hearts. Someone's been gathering the hearts of the worlds in the Realm of Light, to form this artificial Kingdom Hearts. Once he's done, a door should open between the Realms. We could get out through it, but we need keep that door shut."

"Why would we want to shut ourselves in the Realm of Darkness?" Riku asked.

"Because if we can get out, so could enough Heartless to totally destroy the Realm of Light! I've got to stop it!" Mickey reached behind him, but not into a pocket of his strange outfit. There was a flash of golden light in a column over his hand, and he was suddenly holding a key. The gold object was clearly a weapon, not some novelty item, but it was also definitely a key. Its blade and the teeth of the key were gold, with a red band at the base where the blade met the silver hilt with its square hand guard. A keychain with a charm that looked like a gold version of Mickey's head dangled from the bottom of the handle. Riku gasped, instantly recognizing the shape.

"A Keyblade? I thought there was only one!"

"Nope. Not even close. This one's kind of special, though. I just found it lying here, in the Realm of Darkness. It's the counterpart to the Kingdom Key I sent Donald and Goofy to find."

"Donald and Goofy? The two guys with Sora?" Riku asked.

"You know them? Great guys, aren't they?" Mickey chuckled.

"Actually, I only really know Sora. He's the real Keyblade Master up there, unlike me."

"What do you mean, Riku?" Lambda tilted her head.

"I was too weak. I fell to Darkness, and Sora got the Keyblade that was supposed to be mine." Riku hung his head, finally forced to admit his failure.

"Well, I've been using the Darkness to power my systems. Does that make me a bad person, or less of a person than I already was?" Lambda ran some tests, but to all observation the Darkness was just another source of power. "I think the Darkness is just power. Power doesn't do anything until you tell it to." Lambda informed Riku.

"So it's all _my_ fault..." Oops. That did not have the effect Lambda was going for.

"Well, I guess. But that just means it's up to you to make it right. You've been given a rare chance, Riku. Most people who fall to Darkness become Heartless, but you got a whole new body!" Mickey was dumbfounded by the whole process. It seemed all these young people these days were breaking all the rules, just by following their hearts. Could it really be that simple?

Of course it could. It always was. Mickey nodded to himself.

Lambda spoke up again. "So, to confirm the mission parameters, we just sit here and defend this spot until this door back to the Realm of Light opens?"

"Yep..." Mickey glanced around, and caught sight of the movement of yellow eyes in the Darkness. "And speaking of defending this spot, we've got company! Riku, Lambda, do you have weapons?"

By way of an answer, Lambda intoned, "All systems online. Switching to Battle Mode. Collective target threat level is C-tier. Lux Sanctus: Murakumo, activate." A huge sword fell point-first into the invisible dirt behind her, and in a flash of light made purple by the influence of the Darkness, Lambda was again clad in the armor of Murakumo. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned red and black swords to appear and stab her enemies from all directions. Heartless popped into clouds of Darkness in a huge swath.

Riku recognized the hunched, twitching forms of the Shadows, the most basic and common form of Heartless. As the realization that he was in danger struck, his demonic sword, Soul Eater, appeared in his hand in a cloud of Darkness and lightning. He sighed. This was just another sign of his own corruption. While he was so tainted, he would not be worthy of any other weapon. He set his gaze and charged into battle anyway, right behind Mickey, whose Keyblade flashed all over the place as he did a series of acrobatic flips, spins and rolls that disoriented the Shadows and slew them. He only made it _look_ easy.

Riku was doing all right for himself, but even though the Darkness had landed him here, it had also deserted him, leaving him only his own skill at swordplay. _Well, good riddance,_ Riku thought as he cut into the wall of Shadows with flowing moves honed by years of practice fights against Sora on the Destiny Islands. He was slightly out of practice, he realized. It had been too long since he'd fought enemies, rather than having enemies fight for him. When he fought Sora in Hollow Bastion, he'd relied first on the Darkness and then on Ansem to guide his moves. Obviously, that was a bad idea. Well, the present was the best time to learn, and fighting so many Shadows at once was certainly good practice. Cut, dive, turn, strike, hop to the left, take the opening when they miss... Seriously, where were they coming from?

Meanwhile, Lambda calmly obliterated hordes of Heartless, aiming for the source her scans had revealed. There was a sort of well of Darkness behind the ranks of Shadows, spitting out Heartless in fives and sixes. Once she'd stored enough power, she yelled, "Riku, dodge left!" As he did, she used one of her stronger moves, Legacy Edge. Opening a wormhole, she released a storm of approximately forty small daggers, each with the same power as the simpler version, Sword Summoner. The swords ripped the line of Heartless completely open, thudded into the well, and closed it. Without their endless reinforcements, the stragglers were quickly mopped up by Riku and Mickey.

"Well, that takes care of that. Hopefully they'll back off for a while." Mickey looked back at Kingdom hearts, and gasped.

All three of them stared. They could see the mass of light that was Kingdom Hearts, but now they could also see a screen of sorts between the Realms, that showed a boy with enormous shoes and spiky brown hair fighting a giant heartless shaped like a ship. Or he would be, if there were ground to fight on. He and his companions dropped as a deep voice intoned, "Darkness conquers all worlds!"

The boy's oddly-shaped companions were sucked into a cloud of Darkness, but the boy himself just kept falling. As he fell out of sight, Riku chuckled. He called out, "Giving up already? Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that!" Lambda glance at Riku. Why was he dissing the boy-Sora-on the screen when he was obviously in trouble? Riku replied to her unspoken question as Sora flew back onscreen. "He just needed a little push. No way will he lose this fight."

Sure enough, Sora didn't take more than a few hits while flying in and out of the dark portals to destroy the ship's interior. The ship exploded piece by piece, leaving a silver-haired man floating in the darkness. He gestured towards the screen.

"It is futile. The Keyblade alone cannot seal the Door to Darkness! Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the Power of Darkness!"

A door appeared in the screen, and began to open outward, relative to the Realm of Darkness. As it did, Sora called, "You're wrong! I know now, without a doubt: Kingdom Hearts... is Light!"

Then the Door to Darkness opened wide enough for all the light around it to rush out, seemingly annihilating the silver-haired man. However, the Light faded, and the Door remained open. Heartless gathered in Lambda's peripheral vision, attempting to pass into the Realm of Light just as Mickey had said. Lambda attacked, wiping out scores of the little ones, but new, much larger Heartless formed behind her line of defense.

"It's hopeless!" one of Sora's companions called, as they tried to close the Door. It refused to budge, but Riku had an idea.

"Don't give up!" Riku grabbed hold of the Door from his own side, and the door began, ever so slowly, to swing closed.

"Riku, what about you?" Sora asked. This was, after all, their best chance to get him back into the Realm of Light.

"Don't worry about Riku! There will always be a Door to the Light!" This was said by Mickey as he demolished the large heartless with bursts of Light.

"Your Majesty?! Sora, you can trust King Mickey! Let's close this thing!" The dog encouraged Sora, who still looked indecisive.

"Make it quick! The Heartless are coming! And Sora... Protect her." Riku smiled at Sora from the other side as the Door to Darkness closed completely.

"Now, Sora!" Mickey (King Mickey?!) called, "Let's close this door for good!" He held his Keyblade aloft. through the screen, which still existed, they could see Sora do the same. Light energy gathered at the tips of the Keyblades of both Light and Darkness, and the Door to Darkness, the screen between Realms, and Kingdom Hearts all disappeared. The Heartless began to thin out as their objective was lost, and Lambda mopped up the rest.

"Well, now what?" Lambda asked, rejoining the other two. She realized that Sora never even saw her, but that was neither here nor there.

"You never told us you were a king, Mickey!" Riku accused.

"Should I call you 'Your Majesty?'" Lambda asked.

"It just never came up! Just 'Mickey' is fine. My nose gets all stuffy when people act all formal around me." Mickey rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Anyway, I guess while we're here, we should look for the Door to the Light, or maybe the real Kingdom Hearts. I noticed while I was here that I didn't need food, water, or sleep, so all we really need to do is keep moving and find a place that's relatively free from Heartless. I don't think we will, though. This is their home turf."

"Well, whatever we're looking for, we won't find it here. I guess we should just pick a direction and walk." Lambda started off in a random direction.

"Wait for me!" Riku ran after her. "We can't get separated! Right, Mickey?" No response. "...Mickey? Mickey!"

Mickey was gone, and Lambda could no longer sense his presence, even through use of the Power of Darkness.


	3. Darkness or Sleep?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 3: Darkness or Sleep?**

_A/N: Here we go with Chapter 3! This seems to be the first Blazblue/Kingdom Hearts crossover in the history of Fanfiction dot net, so it would be a real shame to not finish it. Thanks go out to my reviewers, who have proven that someone is actually reading my efforts._

"Where'd he go?" Riku whipped around to face Lambda.

"I don't know. I can't even use the Darkness to sense him! We should stay close, and maybe keep physical contact, so that doesn't happen to us." Lambda moved over and took Riku's hand in hers.

As she did, they both felt a sort of spark, an emotion that neither the boy nor the Murakumo Unit could identify. Lambda's self-analysis returned that she simply did not want to let go of Riku's hand. That was obviously a survival requirement here in the Realm of Darkness, but there seemed to be more to it. Lambda set aside further analysis when she saw Riku's concerned expression.

"What's wrong? You kind of blanked out for a second there." Riku squeezed Lambda's hand in his to reassure her that he wasn't going anywhere.

"I was just analyzing that emotion. Did you feel it? When I took your hand, I suddenly didn't want to let go."

"I felt something, but I don't like analyzing my emotions. It always brings me back to how stupid I was back then." Riku's expression darkened, and it took them both a second to notice that it wasn't just his expression; both of their bodies were fading as the Darkness thickened. "What's going on?" Riku's question wasn't answered before they faded completely. As Riku's eyes drifted shut, his last thought was of Lambda's hand, which he could still feel in his. Hopefully they'd end up together, wherever they were going.

Riku's eyes fluttered, then snapped open. Everything was obscured in the gray, cloudy mist in which he was currently floating. "Where am I? Wait, where's Lambda? And the King? Together we closed the Door to Darkness, and then... what?"

**Sleep.** The voice came from all around him, and as he looked around, he saw Lambda floating next to him.

"Lambda! Hey, wake up! Did you say something?"

"Exiting sleep mode... Error. Error. Hey, if I'm in sleep mode, how come I can see you, Riku?"

**You should remain asleep. Shut your eyes. Turn away from the Light. You were separated from your friend, and drifted here. You did not have the strength to overcome the Darkness.** That voice again!

"But where is 'here?'" Riku called to the air.

**This is Sleep. Here, blanketed by the Darkness, Sleep is safety. Sleep is eternal. Now you have a choice. You as well, outsider. Will you take this...** A flash of light burned their eyes, and a strange, card-like object appeared and floated around them them in a figure-eight pattern. **...And take the first step toward the truth? Or will you remain here? Choose well. There can be no returning to the sweet security of Sleep.**

"What is this, a card?"

**It is a door to the truth. Take it, and your sleep ends, as you take a step towards the truth. But know this: the truth will bring you pain. Will you still go?**

Lambda declared, "Well, Mysterious Voice, my vote is to find the truth. There are way too many questions for my liking right now. Pain? I was built to handle pain! What about you, Riku?"

"We'll go together. This seemed like a boring place to take a nap, anyway."

**Well said, Riku.** With new resolve, both Riku and Lambda took hold of the card, and a bright light thrust them into a new world.

When the light faded, the two found themselves standing in a white hall decorated with two white boxes of white roses, and generally surrounded by cold, unfeeling white. A door at the end of the hall, atop a short flight of stairs, contained the only color in the room, and even that was just a pale brown.

"A door to the truth, huh?" Riku mused. "So we just hold up this card, and the door opens?" He did so, and the door did open. The card vanished in a tiny flash of light, and Riku and Lambda stepped through the door and the glowing force field behind it into the twelfth basement floor of Castle Oblivion.

_A/N: Sorry it's so short again. I plan on simply ignoring the card-battle system from Chain of Memories, since it's kind of a stretch that Riku would just know how to do that with nobody to teach him in the game. I will be keeping the door cards, and the general plot of Chain of Memories. Hopefully more pairing-related events will happen in upcoming chapters. Mysteriousguy898, signing off for now!_


	4. Where is Everyone?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 4: Where is Everyone?**

Riku blanched as soon as the world beyond the big door became visible. "Hollow Bastion? Why here?"

"Do you know what this place is, Riku?" Lambda asked.

"Yes... I have a lot of bad memories from this world."

**Yes, memories...** That disembodied voice again! **The world you see is not real. It's the world of your memory. Your memories made a card, and that card made this world. That is the way of things here in Castle Oblivion; you will need cards to open the doors ahead-cards held by the Heartless in each room.**

"You again!" Riku called. "What do you want me to do? Is there something I need to see? Maybe someone I need to meet?"

**Yes, you would meet the people in your memories... Ordinarily.**

"What do you mean, 'ordinarily?'" Riku yelled. But the Voice said nothing more.

"Hmm... He never told us our objective here," Lambda noted, "so we should start with exploring this room. I see a door over that way." Lambda pointed to a door set in the wall, which had no doorknob or other means of opening it. "First, we'll need to find some Heartless. If the Voice is telling the truth, we'll get a card to open that door if we beat them. How does that even work?"

"Oh. I never really thought about why, but Heartless usually drop munny-the currency of most worlds-when they blow up. It just scatters all over the place. The cards will probably drop the same way." Riku informed her.

"Odd. The Heartless in the Realm of Darkness didn't drop anything."

"Well, they do in the Realm of Light, assuming that's where we are right now..."

"...Scanning..." Lambda noticed that, "The Darkness isn't surrounding us here, but all my systems are still online. Where is the Darkness coming from to run them?"

"You can't tell? All Darkness comes from people's hearts. By the way, that fact makes you a person. You must have a heart to have Darkness."

"That's good news... Wait, Heartless incoming! Five...six...ten targets detected. Entering Battle Mode. Let's go, Riku!"

The Heartless here were actually easier to defeat than those in the Realm of Darkness, to the point that Lambda was practically insulted that the Voice considered them a test. Riku used the opportunity to work on his swordsmanship, since it seemed that the only things standing between him and death-or worse-were his sword and his ability to use it. It also seemed that Soul Eater was having a harder time tearing through Heartless now that his Dark powers had abandoned him, so he'd have to train twice as hard to make up for that deficiency.

As expected, the last of the Heartless in the group dropped a red card of the same crown-like shape as the card that made Hollow Bastion. Riku mentally labeled this one a "Door Card" and the first one a "World Card." He convinced Lambda to hold back a bit while he trained on Heartless and gathered a few more Door Cards in red, blue, and green colors. The picture on each card's front was different, and Riku could tell by concentrating on the picture what effect each card would have on the room beyond. One, the red "Idle Darkness" card, would reduce both the Heartless population and the physical size of the room beyond the door on which it was used. The green "Stagnant Space" card would reduce Heartless' movement speed in the corridor it created, and the blue "Moment's Reprieve" would create room with no Heartless that could heal the party's wounds over a quick rest. Putting all four cards in his pocket, Riku noticed that there was yet another card already there. Pulling it out, he saw it was gold in color, with an icon of a Keyblade on the front. This "Key to Beginnings," he realized, would be necessary to pass a special type of door.

"Okay, Lambda, I'm ready to go. We'll use this green one to open the door, and look through the castle for the door this gold card works on. I think that's what we're supposed to be doing." Riku laid out the plan.

Lambda agreed. "Sounds good. How do you know which card would work on the door up ahead?"

"If you concentrate on the picture, the effect pops into your head. Here, try it." Riku handed Lambda the stack of cards.

"Scanning... I see what you mean. Yes, the green one should give us an advantage while training and gathering other cards. We'll need to keep our stock of cards up; the first card disappeared, remember?"

"Oh, yeah! This is a good start, though. Let's go!"

Over the course of the next few rooms, Riku got his sword skills up to snuff and gathered fifteen separate Door Cards. The two came upon a door with a crown shape glowing on its front. The Key to Beginnings began to glow when Riku held up the proper card to unlock the door-a green card of any type-so he held that up, too, and both cards disappeared to open the door. Inside, there was a room full of books, with a bed in the corner.

Lambda scanned the room for enemies, but there were none. She asked, "Riku, do you know what this room is?"

The Voice cut in before he could answer. **It must be nice to be back in your old bedroom. Think of all the memories...**

"Ugh. I could do without these memories. Maleficent gave me this room." Riku grumbled.

Lambda asked, "Who's Maleficent? Is she dangerous?"

**So she did. And you stayed here, tempted by the darkness the witch offered.** The Voice agreed with Riku.

"Shut up, Voice!" Riku yelled. And it did.

There was a flash of light, and the two explorers found themselves in a previous room. They continued cutting through to the next crown door, which yielded to a red card and the "Key of Guidance." Inside was a large atrium, again devoid of life.

"Scanning... No life-forms detected. We haven't seen anyone besides Heartless in this castle." Lambda reported.

"Maybe he can explain it. Voice! I know you're watching, so explain this! Where are the people from my memories? There should be the Beast here, and Belle. So where are they?" Riku demanded.

**I'll get to that in a bit. First, let's recap. You felt trapped on your tiny island, so you leapt through the Door to Darkness. Behind you, you left everything-friends, home, family-all in pursuit of Darkness. **The Voice sounded smug.

"But I cast that aside, too!" Riku called.

** And what do you have to show for it? First your home, then the dark. Your heart only knows how to cast away. It's empty-like that room. Like your memories. That's why there's no one in the castle with you. Your heart is hollow, except for the Darkness you couldn't quite shake off... How long until you cast aside that outsider beside you as well?** The Voice teased.

"You're wrong! I rejected the Darkness, and I won't leave Lambda behind! I won't lose any more of myself!" Riku shouted.

**Ha ha... Did you really, now? We'll see...** The Voice faded once more, along with the room.

Riku checked his pockets. Sure enough, another gold card, a "Key to Truth," was there. "I think this will be the last card. We've checked most of this floor, according to the map I found in the Moment's Reprieve room." That had been unexpected. It listed twelve floors of Castle Oblivion, counting Hollow Bastion as B12. That meant they were in the deepest basement of what was apparently a VERY large castle. Also, none of the other floors had layouts...yet. The map seemed to change to list the rooms they'd been through.

"Should we really continue searching for this Voice? He doesn't seem trustworthy, even if he hasn't been lying to us. I think he just wants to use you." Lambda held still to think about it.

"Do we really have a choice? To get out of this castle, we have to go up twelve floors. I bet the Voice is between us and the exit. If it comes to that, we can fight him. I have a guess as to who he is. If I'm right, I'm going to need your help to win. Can I count on you?" Riku asked.

"Sure you can. I was built to fight omniscient beings, so even if I'm not quite on the level of actual gods, I'm sure I can beat whoever our mysterious malefactor is. I think you really want to beat him yourself, though..." Lambda guessed.

"...Yeah. I have to prove that I'm strong enough to not lose again. I have a personal grudge against who I think this guy is. I couldn't stop-no, I didn't resist him before, and he took everything from me. I won't make that mistake again." Riku resolved. He smiled at Lambda, to put on a brave face. "By the way, you read me like a book. Was it that obvious?"

"Kind of, but I'm built as an Observer. I'm built to find the truth and bring it out. And I think you have potential you haven't even seen yet. If you can find that strength, you won't lose to any villain."

"I hope so... Hey, we're here!" As they'd been talking, Riku had been absentmindedly opening doors, and they found themselves before the last crown door. Riku opened it wide.

Inside, the two found themselves in a chapel of sorts built of gray stone. For once, however, they were not alone.

"No... Maleficent?" Riku shouted.

"You haven't been paying attention," the green-skinned woman with the yellow eyes said. "I am but a figment of your memory."

"Of all the people I could run into, it had to be you..." Riku growled.

"Of course. You want me here. Who else but I can grant you the Darkness you long for?"

"I did cling to you once. I lost myself to the dark. But never again. You and your Darkness have nothing to offer."

"You should be thankful," Maleficent teased. "If it were not for the Darkness in your heart, you would be completely alone, save that pathetic castaway at your back."

"Don't talk about Lambda like that! If I'm stuck seeing people like you, people of the dark...I'll take you out one by one!" Riku shouted his challenge to the ceiling, as though he meant to fight destiny itself.

Maleficent merely laughed. "Then don't forget to take yourself out last. For you, like me, are one of the dark."

Riku nodded sharply. "Fine by me. It's true, part of me does want that power back. I hate that weakness in me. It's like I'm my own worst enemy." Riku summoned Soul Eater and took his fighting stance. "Enough talk, Maleficent!"

"So you hate the Darkness enough to fight it? Oh, the agony you must feel!" Maleficent preached. "Then allow me to end your pain, Riku...End it forever, with the wondrous powers of Darkness!" And with a cackle, Maleficent exploded into green fire, and began to transform.

Lambda, who had been holding back and discreetly scanning the witch to determine the best way to defeat her, immediately discarded her current observations and summoned Murakumo. There had been no indication that Maleficent could transform into a dragon before she actually did. Lambda didn't think there was room here for the dragon to take flight, if if it even could on those tiny wings, but she knew better than to underestimate a giant monster. She dashed into melee range and delivered eight rising slashes with her floating blades, then jumped over the shockwaves produced by the dragon's stomping feet. Riku caught a card that flew out of the wound, then activated it, causing a platform to appear nearby. He jumped on it to avoid the shockwaves as the dragon continued to stomp. Riku rode the floating platform in for a combo while Lambda leaped into the air to cut the dragon's neck with swords summoned from every direction. Though the dragon spewed fire into the air, it wilted under the continued assault, and collapsed into a puff of Darkness right before Riku's platform disappeared.

"Target terminated. We did it!" Lambda cheered.

"Yeah. You were great, Lambda! I wish I was that good a fighter." Riku patted Lambda on the back, above the floating swords.

"You just need practice. I kind of cheated by relying on pre-programmed combat routines. I still don't have much creativity for using the Power of Darkness." Lambda started running simulations on ways to use the Power of Darkness separately from her Murakumo protocols, but snapped out of it when the room disappeared again.

They found themselves alone once more, in a room the map labeled as a Conqueror's Respite. It had a healing effect and a long ladder that led to the next floor. After a quick rest, Riku ascended the ladder, but Lambda opted to float upward.

Riku blanched. "Aw, Lambda! You can fly?"

"Yes, but this is a little too slow for combat. I normally just hang in the air to pepper targets with swords."

"That's...not what I meant. I meant you're lucky. I never got to fly, not even in Neverland-a world where it was actually possible. Anyway, I'll catch up when I'm done trudging up this ladder."

Atop the ladder and through the open door, Riku and Lambda found themselves in another white hall like the one in which they'd awoken. A long staircase led upward to the next floor, but the two explorers were stopped by the Voice cutting in. **Why do you shun the Darkness?**

"Oh, come on, I know you heard me," Riku scoffed, "every word I said to Maleficent."

**Darkness is your weapon. It is time you learned you must accept it. You have no choice...**

A dark mass formed in front of them, and the dark-skinned man who battled Sora stepped out of it. "...If you are to serve me again!" The owner of the Voice crossed his arms and smirked.

"Ansem. So it was you." Riku nodded.

"You don't seem surprised," Ansem noted.

"All you've been talking about is the Darkness. That's so like you. I can only assume you want to pull me back in...so you can play puppet master." Riku growled.

"Clever boy. Now, submit to me again-"

Riku cut Ansem off by summoning Soul Eater and charging forward. "You're crazy! Not a chance!"

Lambda noted a massive spike in Darkness just as Ansem raised his palm to intercept the blade. There was a black shockwave, and Riku was thrown away onto his back. "Did you really think you could do me harm?" Ansem scoffed. "A weakling like you couldn't even defeat Sora, and you had Darkness on your side."

"Well, excuse me...for being weak..." Riku huffed from his prone position.

Ansem advanced slowly, surely. "You are weak. You need Darkness. Surrender."

"You won't touch Riku!" Lambda yelled, as she launched a Legacy Edge attack Ansem's way. While he managed to react in time to raise a shield and block the whole volley, it stopped him from advancing any further. "Get up, Riku!"

"You're wrong, Ansem!" A new voice shouted. A ball of yellow light floated from the ceiling to hover before Riku's face.

"Mickey? Is that you?" Riku gasped.

"Yep! Listen, Riku! the Light'll never give up on you! You just gotta believe!" The ball of light floated toward Riku's chest and entered his body, healing his wounds and filling him with energy of a sort he'd nearly forgotten after being surrounded by Darkness for so long.

Riku rose to his feet and re-summoned his Soul Eater from the floor. "You heard him, Ansem. I won't lose to Darkness. Not today."

Ansem growled, having been paralyzed by King Mickey's power for the duration of his pep talk. "You think that feeble little Light will save you...from the Darkness that I command?" Ansem's shadow suddenly leaped off the floor, transfiguring into a monster that floated behind him.

"You don't command the Darkness," Lambda softly spoke as she fell into place alongside Riku. "The Darkness has already taken your heart. Your ambitions control you. You can't claim any part of us!"

"Wait, Ansem's a Heartless?" Riku did a double take. "That makes so much sense, actually."

"Well, he scans the same as one, closer to the Shadows than the ones we fought in Hollow Bastion with the armor and the emblems. Here he comes! Break!" Lambda called, and Riku dodged Ansem's Guardian's punch in a separate direction from Lambda.

"This is between myself and Riku, _outsider_. Stop your meddling!" Ansem raised a barrier between Lambda and the other two.

"Crescent Saber." Lambda summoned a curved blade and hammered down on the barrier, shattering the wall like glass. "Act Parcer." Lambda intoned, zipping into melee range in the blink of an eye. "Gravity Seed." She deployed a purple circle on the ground, amplifying the pull of gravity in that space tenfold. Ansem stuck to the ground, and his Guardian's arms were pinned to its sides. Ansem sluggishly stomped toward Riku, but met his blade in the face.

Riku anticipated the increased gravity after seeing what it did to Ansem, and used it to his advantage by leaping high into the air and crashing down with enough force to bisect a normal man with the vertical blow he struck. "Get a load of this! Impulse!"

"How can your Darkness surpass mine, outsider? Riku, do you see the power the Darkness holds?" Ansem asked.

Riku slashed again as the Gravity Seed faded. "Shut up already, Ansem. I don't see how that means I need _you_."

"Fine." Ansem teleported out of range. "It seems you are intent on resisting the Darkness. You should see it for yourself." Ansem's Guardian disappeared, signaling that Ansem was done fighting. He pulled a group of four cards from his coat, and threw them at Riku, who caught them handily. "These are cards crafted from your memory. Advance through the worlds they beget, and soon, you will understand. Chasing after Light is not the way. It will not give you distance from the Darkness."

"Fine. I'll go through the worlds, and at the end, if I haven't given in to Darkness...then I win." Riku nodded.

"I have one more gift for you..." Ansem waved his hand, and Riku bent over and clutched his chest in pain. Darkness leaked out from around his fingers.

"What did you do?" Riku gasped.

"I merely tempered the Darkness that yet remains in your heart. The power is there for you to use again." Ansem replied.

"You still think I'd rely on Darkness?" Riku stood back up.

"To use it or not is your choice. I'll be waiting, Riku...for you to sense it, and yield to the Darkness in your heart!" With that final challenge, Ansem disappeared in a puff of Darkness.

"Riku, are you okay?" Lambda asked.

"I think I'm fine. I can walk, and fight. But something's off, and I bet it's because of what he did. What's that smell?" Riku wondered. It wasn't a good smell, but it wasn't bad, either. It was definitely there, though...

"I don't smell anything. I'm scanning for Ansem's energy signature, but its kind of lost in the energy you're giving out now. That is a lot more Darkness than I expected." The aura surrounding Riku wasn't something that could be seen right now, and not many people could sense it, but it was still like an elephant in the room.

"Oh. That's what this is. It's the smell of Darkness. What's happening to me? The Darkness even seeped into my skin." Riku hung his head.

"Don't give up now!" Mickey's voice spoke up again. In a blinding burst of Light, Mickey appeared before them, but he was see-through. Lambda recognized it as a sort of illusion. "Riku, that Darkness belongs to you. Just the same way your Light does. And if you believe in the Light, it'll never fade. You'll always find it, even in the deepest Darkness!"

"Light...within Darkness?" Riku asked.

"All three of us have seen it! The far-off, welcoming Light inside the Door to Darkness! The Light of Kingdom Hearts; it will show you the way! So keep following that Light. That's a request from my heart." Mickey extended a transparent hand towards Riku, and Riku tried to shake it, but one gloved hand passed right through the other.

"You're...an illusion? My hand goes right through you!" Riku marveled.

"Funny, isn't it?" Mickey asked as he looked himself over. "I can only send a bit of my power to this place. But don't worry: we shook hands, in our hearts. And that's what's important! I'll find a way to reach you, so don't give up!" After that last request, Mickey's illusion disappeared, leaving behind a green card with a blank space instead of a picture. As Riku picked it up, Mickey's voice resounded in his head and Lambda's. "This card will help you! When my face shows up on it in a few minutes, you can activate it, and my power in the card will assist you in a fight! I can heal you and stun enemies, and probably both at the same time. I don't know if it will work if you decide to use the Darkness, but my best guess is it will, because you'll still want it to. After all, Lambda uses the Darkness, and I could still show up just now. Goodbye for now! If you need me, just call!" Mickey's voice faded, but Riku stood up straighter, since he knew he wasn't alone.

"Thanks, Mickey. And you too, Lambda. I hope I can count on your help." Riku said.

"Sure. Actually, I think there's something you should know. My control protocol is still active, meaning I'll have to follow the orders of whoever activates it. The good news, however, is that you're the only one I'll allow to do that." Lambda pointed at Riku. "Listen closely. I trust you, and only you, with my power, so here's how to activate it. Just say, 'Lambda, activate control mode.' Whether I can hear you or not, it'll respond, and I'll be summoned to your side. To stop the session, just say, 'Lambda, release control mode.' Oh, and for the benefit of whoever's listening, only Riku can do that. Not Ansem, no matter how far he's wormed into Riku's heart, and not whoever owns this castle. So don't bother trying!" Lambda finished her spiel, and Riku was taken aback.

"Why would you give me that kind of control over you?" Riku asked.

"Because I trust you. You're my friend, and I know you'll do good things with it. Do I need another reason?" Lambda responded.

"Um..." Riku searched for some way to respond to that.

"Anyway, I've finally figured out what the Darkness is, and why you'll have to use it after all." Lambda remarked.

"What? Why would I ever need the Darkness? That's just what Ansem wants!" Had Lambda gone off the deep end?

"The Darkness is the power to control, to destroy, and to take. Without that power, you'll have control taken from you by a superior user of the Darkness, like Ansem. Incidentally, he didn't win back there because the Light is the power to protect, heal, and give. Mickey used that power to protect you from Ansem. But lacking any way to use the Light yourself, you'll have to use the Darkness to fight back if Ansem attacks again. You'll have to get _good_ at it, as well, so Ansem can't overpower you. You have the potential to be that strong in the near future." Lambda explained.

"But Ansem gave me that Darkness! I'll be playing right into his hands!" Riku argued.

"I know that, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't worry me, but that's all the more reason why you have to take that Darkness as your own. Accepting that you have Darkness in your heart is not the same as accepting Ansem as your master." Lambda responded.

"I...I don't know if I can." Riku said. "I don't want those things I did to be a part of me."

"Well, you'll have time to think about it while we're clearing the next four floors of Castle Oblivion," Lambda pointed out. "Which one should we tackle first?"

"Okay, I'll decide later, if I have to. Let's do...Traverse Town first. That's this card." Riku indicated a card with a bunch of brown buildings on it. "Onward and upward, then?"

"Definitely." Lambda took Riku's hand, and they ascended the stairs to Basement 11.

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_Next time on Dark Clouds: Traverse Town Abridged, and a couple quick visits to Organization XIII, who are waiting in the wings. They'll have their own parts to play._


	5. What Did You Detect?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 5: What Did You Detect?**

_A/N: Sorry to keep you waiting a few weeks. This is Chapter 5 of Dark Clouds! I'm glad to see a few more Kingdom Hearts/BlazBlue crossovers on Fanfiction dot net, although I haven't actually read any of them. So, in this chapter, we cut to Organization XIII, who are just now learning of what's going on with Riku and Lambda, plus some infighting over who gets Sora's Keyblade. I find it interesting how many people try to take a Keyblade by force. If it didn't work for Riku, it won't work for anyone. Also, we'll see Traverse Town on fast forward. No other people means no plotline built in, so I'll try to work around that to keep the story interesting._

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A young man in a pitch-black cloak stood in a darkened room of Castle Oblivion's basement. His eye, the one not covered by his slate-blue hair, opened when he detected an incoming Corridor of Darkness.

"Zexion. What did you detect?" The newcomer was familiar enough with Zexion to cut straight to the chase.

"Don't I even warrant a hello, Lexaeus?" Zexion grumbled. He regarded Lexaeus' messy, brown hair and roughly-chiseled countenance without a shred of emotion passing between them. They both knew that neither of them really cared about the pleasantries.

Another person in the same black cloak appeared in another cloud of darkness. "Out with it, Zexion! What information do you have for us?" The green-eyed man with the long, dirty blond hair seemed highly impatient. He was better at the ruse than most of their kind.

"Nice to see you too, Vexen. You know, it's deplorable. The Organization used to be the rope that bound us together. And now, it's full of kinks." Zexion really thought he could trust the bonds between comrades, even under the circumstances, but perhaps that was a foolish ideal. Still, on to business. "I detected visitors. Three scents in the castle's lowest basement. One was Maleficent, but-"

Vexen cut him off. "Absurd. The witch is gone. She cannot return from the Realm of Darkness of her own volition!" Vexen seemed to find the prospect amusing. After all, they all knew the rules. No one could leave the Realm of Darkness without help from another person, or from that same Darkness, and Maleficent ran out of favors a week ago.

"If you would let me finish, the scent belonged not to the real Maleficent, but to a highly convincing double. I can't say much more about it, since the false Maleficent is no more. Our other two visitors saw to that."

"Who are the others?" Lexaeus asked.

"I can't be sure. Both carry a powerful scent of Darkness. One is completely outside my experience; I can't be sure anyone has seen that person before. The other...had a scent very similar to the Superior. Exactly similar, I might say."

"Why would the Superior be here?" Vexen asked. "Did he not send us here because he has better things to be doing than checking on us?"

"I can't be sure that was his reasoning, but I don't actually think the Superior made a house call. I'll gather more information and report back. Lexaeus, should we do anything about them?"

"We wait, and see what develops. After all, the important events are occurring upstairs. Vexen, what news from topside?"

"The hero of the Keyblade, Sora, has already arrived at the castle. Marluxia is having Namine shuffle his memories as we speak. Marluxia may yet get his puppet."

"If that happens, we will be here to watch." Unspoken by Lexaeus was that the meeting was adjourned. All three Organization members disappeared from the room.

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"So, this is Traverse Town?" Lambda asked as they wandered its empty, brown alleys.

"Yeah, or at least a pretty realistic illusion." Riku cut through a group of Soldier Heartless, picked up a red Door Card, and used it to advance. "Whoa, that's a change of scenery!"

"More like a removal," Lambda responded. The card was Bottomless Darkness, and it created a square space with no light except spotlights over the doors on the sides of the room. Otherwise, the only things visible were the silhouettes of Riku and Lambda, and the glowing, yellow eyes of about seventy Shadows. Luckily, the room was completely level, so there was little risk of stumbling over anything in the following combat.

The next room was a Strong Initiative, which created a large, tiered space with lots of Heartless that took devastating damage from ambushes. The sounds of combat echoed around the room.

"It's kind of lonely, having a town with no people, isn't it?" Lambda mused.

"Don't remind me... Anyway, it's probably for the best. This town is a refuge for those who survive having their worlds lost to Darkness. No one who comes here has a happy story. So lets get out of here as soon as possible." Riku used a Stagnant Space and the Key to Beginnings to open a Crown Door.

They found themselves in a gray plaza in front of a large building called the Gizmo Shop. However, a barrier immediately formed around the plaza, and Lambda dove into Riku to mutually avoid the falling parts of the Guard Armor. "Target acquired. Threat level is B. You ready, Riku?"

"Right! Go for the legs and arms first!" They circled around to the Armor's left and right and hacked away at its floating limbs. Lambda got the Gauntlet on her side, and was working on the Hammerleg, but Riku was whacked hard into the barrier. "Agh!"

"Riku! Need some help?" The Guard Armor was advancing toward his stunned prey, but Riku became shrouded in a dark cloud.

"Darkness!" Out of the cloud flipped Riku, but he was different. In the glimpse Lambda got, Riku was now clad in a blue-violet bodysuit that was as hard as her own Murakumo armor, with a symbol on the chest like the Emblem of the Heartless, but without the stylized "X" over the heart. His sword glowed with dark power, and he flipped again in midair, coming down with his blade cutting through the Guard Armor's torso. The remaining limbs exploded in quick succession, as Riku zipped around it faster than normal eyes could track. The Guard Armor fell to the ground and exploded.

Riku landed nearby. He was no worse for the wear, but he looked downcast. "Crap. I let it out already..."

"Riku, what happened? There was a surge of Darkness, and that outfit..." Lambda looked him over.

"I dare you to mock the skirt." Riku glared around, as though expecting Donald Duck to leap from the Gizmo Shop and start guffawing at the frayed cloth around his waist.

"Oh, that? Nah, I thought it was a nice touch. And I like my limbs right where they are, thanks. I think that form outclasses me. Your potential threat level is SS, by the way." Lambda placated.

"Yeah, I guess. I still wish I'd been strong enough without it, though."

"Is Ansem acting up?"

"Not yet, but I didn't really go all out with it. If I have to actually try while using that power, I don't want to know what will happen."

"Well, I'm sure that whatever happens, you can deal with it. And I'll be right here to back you up! Let's get to the next floor; I'm still not convinced that Ansem actually built this place."

Appearing in the Conqueror's Respite, Riku hurriedly dismissed Dark Mode. "I never really thought about who built this place. Castle Oblivion, was it? It doesn't seem like Ansem's preferred decor. Too much white and flowers."

"But if Ansem doesn't own this place, who does?" Lambda wondered as they ascended the ladder and the stairs to Floor B10.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Back at the darkened meeting room...

"I've identified one of the scents," Zexion said to the other two members from before. "It is Riku."

"How did he escape the Realm of Darkness?" Vexen asked.

"I can't be sure, but perhaps it was his experience with the Darkness. He had the Superior's Other within him for a time. Perhaps that made him half-dark."

"And that's why you mistook him for the Superior. Interesting! I have a plan to gather more data." Vexen turned and prepared to leave. "I'll catch him after Basement 10."

"Be careful down there," Zexion warned. "I haven't gotten any information on the third scent. I'm sure you know to beware the unknown."

"Is this third entity merely unknown, or unknowable?" Lexaeus, who had previously remained silent, asked.

"I have to conclude the latter. Do bring back some data on both of them, would you, Vexen?"

"That was the plan." Vexen disappeared.

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_A/N: And Riku enters D-Mode for the first time! In the HD ReMIX, D-Mode was less of Ansem's suggestion and more of a necessity, since they nerfed Mickey's Holy Burst sleight so much. I actually think it makes the story more potent like that. Riku HAS to use the Power of Darkness to survive the halls of Castle Oblivion, but that doesn't mean he has to like it... Next chapter, "Who is Nobody?" will have the Vexen fight._


	6. Who is Nobody?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 6: Who is Nobody?**

_A/N: Finally, I have a relatively free day in which to write! Here, we see Lambda's brain break a little in Wonderland, and Vexen's waiting at the end to beat the data out of our heroes. So let's get right to it!_

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As Lambda and Riku climbed the stairs to Floor B10, Lambda noted, "I half-expected Ansem to show up back at that hall. Did Mickey really lock him up that tight?"

Riku replied, "No. He bumps around in my heart every now and then, just to let me know he's there. I'm doing my best to ignore him. We have better things to be doing than listening to him, anyway."

"Starting with another World Card, right?"

"Yep. Let's get this one out of the way..." Riku confirmed, holding up a card before the great door to the next floor.

Lambda walked through with him, then jerked. "What the? Something's wrong with this world..."

"I know, right? Wonderland is a world without any basic rules of logic. Some doors go places, other doors don't, sometimes there are doors with more doors behind them...to say nothing of the size issue. I thought we should get through this before we get tired. It would only be worse if we were worn out." Riku explained.

"Size issue?" Lambda asked, then noticed the enormous mushrooms and lily pads that made up the platforms in the room. "Oh."

Riku jumped ahead, only to pause at the door. "Hey, it's covered in roots!"

"What? Don't roots grow underground?"

"Normally, yes. Let's see if we can chop these off..." *POK!* Riku's Soul Eater just bounced off the roots, not even leaving a cut.

"Scanning...source of roots determined. It's that big purple flower over there. It's supplying the roots with the Power of Darkness, but it doesn't seem to be protecting itself." Lambda pointed to a giant patch of flowers at the room's highest point.

"Well, let's cut them down first," Riku began, but he was jumped by a Large Body Heartless. "Ow...! Lambda, a little help?" Riku was pinned under the Large Body's considerable girth. Any second now, the Heartless would try to take his heart...

Lambda shot swords at the Large Body, but they ricocheted in random directions off its jiggly belly. A quick scan determined that the Heartless was more vulnerable from behind, so she summoned more swords there. The Large Body popped into a choking cloud of Darkness, but Riku was free now. "You okay?" Lambda asked.

"Um..." Riku tried to get up, only to fall back down. "Ow! No, I think he broke my leg. Now what?"

"What about Mickey's card? I'm sure it's built up a lot of power by now."

Riku fished out the card from his pocket, careful to avoid jostling his broken limb. Sure enough, Mickey's face was on the card, and the whole card was glowing with Light power. "Mickey! Help us out!"

Mickey appeared in a flash of light, as transparent as before. However, he now had a lot more power, which he used by raising his ethereal hand and releasing a blast of Light. Lambda had to blink to reset her vision afterward, but a quick test showed that the Light was entirely beneficial. All the pesky, minor maintenance issues that had stacked up in her systems over two floors of combat were instantly resolved, and Riku was getting up, his leg miraculously healed. "Call me anytime!" With that, King Mickey disappeared.

"Wow... I wish I had healing magic like that," Lambda breathed.

"Me too," Riku replied. "Thanks, Mickey." Now if only he could use the Light as easily as the Darkness had risen during the Guard Armor fight...but why would the Light help him?

Lambda cut the flowers down, causing the roots over the door to simply fade away. Lambda decided not to bother scanning the phenomenon. Over the next five rooms, every single door was covered by a similar trap, and there were a few other "features" of the rooms to watch out for. "Error. The spores from that yellow flower just messed up my vision! Riku, can you keep the Heartless off me while I purge this junk? I can't see."

"Got it! Leave it to me!" Happy that he finally got a chance to protect Lambda and not the other way around, Riku drew the attention of the six Tornado Steps and three Creeper Plants they were fighting, and cut all of them down.

"Phew! Contaminants purged. I can see again, and it looks like you got them all! Good job!" Lambda congratulated Riku.

"Don't mention it. I was worried I'd never get to return all those favors you've been doing me since we got here."

"Are we keeping score?" Lambda asked as the two approached the Crown Door.

"Well, I am. I've got two points for breaking your restrictions in the Realm of Darkness and for just now, while you've got three for defending Kingdom Hearts, holding off Ansem, and cheering me up about the Darkness. Four, counting the control protocol thing you gave me. I need to catch up." Riku opened the door.

"We might want to hold off on that until we beat that huge Heartless. Or are we just small?" Lambda stopped thinking about the relative sizes of the Trickmaster, the table, and themselves, and focused on fighting. Riku couldn't jump high enough to get at the Heartless' vulnerable points, but Lambda brought it down to their level with a large Calamity Sword attack. The giant blade shoved the Trickmaster down to its knees. "Riku, now!"

"Whoa, I definitely don't want to tick you off," Riku grunted as he chopped the stacked heads off the Trickmaster. It vanished, leaving the victorious pair in the Conqueror's Respite.

"It's been a while. Do you want to rest here a minute? I need to sort some of this data." Lambda reported.

"Yeah. We'll rest for a bit, but the healing effect on this room makes me feel ready to continue really quickly. How about five minutes?"

"Okay. I'll be ready then." Lambda set to work fixing her brain and discarding everything she'd observed about Wonderland. The whole concept was backwards, and it was giving her a headache with the urge to _fix it._ That was probably her programming talking; after all, she'd been built to fight gods because her creators felt they could do a better job than the deities that created them. Obviously, that was like trying to make photocopies out of photocopies without using a printer, but knowing that fact didn't make the voice in her head any less persistent. Quarantining all the weirdness did help, but she made sure to keep records on how Mickey helped back there. Five minutes later, Lambda piped up, "Debugging complete. I'm ready to go. How about you, Riku?"

"Yeah. Let's move on." So, they climbed the ladder (Lambda climbed the normal way, since Riku seemed jealous the last two times she hovered up it), and left Floor B10 behind.

At the hall before the next staircase, however, a man in a black coat stood in the way. "Ah... I've been waiting for you, Riku," the mysterious newcomer greeted. He had blond hair that was a little too long for a man to be taken seriously, and cold green eyes. He also had a aura of Darkness, but it didn't come from him. It simply surrounded him, as though he had it through association with dark acts rather than from being one of the dark.

"How do you know my name? Are you with Ansem?" Riku took a defensive stance, but didn't summon Soul Eater yet.

"You are half correct. Let us say he is not the Ansem with which you are familiar. He is Ansem and he is not Ansem. Perhaps a 'Nobody' best conveys the idea." The stranger chuckled.

"Sorry, riddles aren't my thing. Try again," Riku growled.

"So you're one of these 'Nobodies' as well, then? Who or what is Nobody?" Lambda asked.

"Quite so. My name is Vexen. Like my Superior and Riku, I belong to neither Light nor Darkness but walk the twilight between. However, I do not know your name, young lady." Vexen pointed a finger at Lambda, who wasn't currently clad in Murakumo's armor.

"I'm Lambda, and I'm here trying to get out of this castle with Riku. Whatever you want with Riku, you'll have to past me for it." Lambda responded.

"Oh, a threat? I'm just here to have a look at Riku's Darkness. And yours as well." Vexen chuckled again, as though he didn't think either of the people before him was a real threat.

Riku spoke up. "You're right, there really is Darkness left inside of me. But so what? Darkness is my enemy! And so are you, for reeking of that awful smell!" Riku summoned Soul Eater and charged, but was repelled by a spiky-edged shield that appeared on Vexen's arm in a swirl of ice crystals.

Lambda started scanning him and his weapon, and activated Murakumo. "Riku, that shield, the Frozen Pride, won't break until he does. It's a part of him, so you'll need to find a way around it. Watch out for his ice!"

"I got it!" Riku called back. He tried dancing around behind Vexen, but only succeeded in dodging the ice shards the Nobody had thrown. "Darn, he's fast!"

"The Darkness could help you move faster, if you really want to hurt me that much," Vexen teased.

"Oh, you're one of them. No way!" Riku shouted, trying and failing again to get past Vexen's guard.

Lambda realized that while Riku was the one attacking him, Vexen's attention was focused on Lambda. Too late, she noticed the strange circle beneath her feet, which was scanning her for Vexen. She dodged out of it, but with a wave of his hand, Vexen completely encased Lambda in ice. "Perhaps this will rile you enough to overcome your weakness, Riku?" Vexen taunted.

"Lambda! NO!" There was a spike of Darkness. There was no buildup, but Riku's Dark Mode suit materialized immediately. Suddenly, he was behind Vexen, and threw his hand forward. A blast of Darkness in the form of blue fire seared Vexen's back. With a comical squawk, Vexen teleported away.

"It seems that just beneath your veneer of cowardice, there is a Darkness of formidable power growing! It was well worth the trouble of angering you! All this excitement has given me considerable data! My colleagues will be very pleased to hear what I've gathered on you as well, Lambda," Vexen added as an afterthought before he disappeared, cackling, from the area.

"It was a trick..." Riku was disgusted with himself. Twice now, he'd let the Darkness out in the heat of the moment. "Wait, Lambda!" He whipped his head around, seeing Lambda still frozen in place inside a huge block of ice. "Hold on! Rrraaah!" Riku launched another Dark Firaga, which blew up the ice imprisoning Lambda. She fell to the ground, and Murakumo deactivated. "Lambda! Oh no, did I hurt you?"

"Negative. That ice was really cold, though," Lambda reported.

"I'm sorry. He used you to try to get me angry enough to release the Darkness, and he succeeded." Riku dismissed Dark Mode.

"I saw everything. It's actually pretty sweet, that you'd go that far to protect me. Thanks." Lambda stood up and gave him a hug.

"Huh? I...? I guess I did..." Riku froze up in Lambda's embrace, but slowly relaxed. As he returned the hug, he said, "I'll protect you, Lambda."

"I know. By the way, this puts you at three points. You're still down one," Lambda giggled.

"Heh, yeah, I guess I'll just keep it up. I hope I don't have to use that power again, though..."

"About that... Vexen said it was cowardice that kept you from using the Darkness. I'd hate to take his word for it, though." Lambda noted.

"I... don't know. The whole idea _is _pretty scary, after my first experiences with the Darkness." Riku admitted.

"Well, we'd better be ready for anything. Vexen's probably using the data he got from us to set a trap up ahead, and he said he had colleagues here, too. If the other 'Nobodies' are anything like him, they'll be hostile and tough to beat." Lambda grimaced at the memory of how easily Vexen had incapacitated her. "I also don't know how much data he managed to get from me. He might even build his own Murakumo Unit, but I doubt it. The process requires a whole lot of human souls and access to the Boundary."

"Human souls?!" Riku choked.

"Yeah... I didn't really want you to know, but it just slipped out. I'm as much of an abomination as any of the jerks in this castle. I believe someone once used the phrase 'thousands of human souls in every bite.' I think it's a similar concept to the 'heart' that I keep hearing about here. I'd totally understand if you were... uncomfortable around me from now on." Lambda looked down after her admission, but her eyes widened when Riku hugged her again.

"No way. You're no monster, and I think you know it. You're way nicer than Vexen, for starters, and you've done nothing but help me since we met. And you don't think I'm a monster, even after everything I did to betray Sora and the worlds. Thanks, Lambda."

"You're welcome, Riku. That's four for four," Lambda added.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! I tied the score! But we really should stop counting. Being nice isn't really a competition." Riku said after the initial fist pump. "Well, let's see what kind of traps Vexen's cooked up. No use waiting around..." So, the two friends ascended the stairs to Floor B9.


	7. How to Explain?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 7: How to Explain?**

_ A/N: Thanks to anyone still here, and especially to my brother-whose username on Fanfiction is FierceDeityMask-for getting me off my procrastinating bum to write this chapter! Since Vexen's plan won't come to fruition for two floors (on Floor B8), I needed something to fill in for Floor B9. Also, I have to replay Chain Of Memories to figure out which worlds can go on which floors, though it doesn't really matter except for Twilight Town, Destiny Islands, and Castle Oblivion. So, for this chapter, our heroes visit Neverland, and Riku explains a bit more about how stupid he was in the first game._

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The next large door yielded to a card Riku called "Neverland." Lambda didn't know what she was expecting, but the interior of a large water-based pirate ship was not it. She actually didn't have any data on how to cross large bodies of water, since in her original world, all the oceans had been dry for decades. Therefore, she wasn't prepared for the way the floor lurched every few seconds as the ship hit a wave. For the first few fights, Riku took the lead so Lambda could get her bearings and learn to compensate for the movement of the ship in combat.

Riku defeated a few Pirate Heartless, deftly maneuvering around their cutlasses. "Phew... That mops them up. Lambda, how are you feeling?"

"I've fixed that glitch that made me want to throw up, and I'm 90% done with devising battle protocols to compensate for the motion of the ship. I'll be ready to fight for the next round. Thanks for covering me, Riku," Lambda reported.

"It's fine. I had trouble the first few hours on this ship, too. It wasn't fun." Riku grimaced at the memory.

"Why were you on a pirate ship in the first place?" Lambda asked.

Riku hesitated. "...That's a long story. Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Yes. I need to know why you always beat up on yourself, so I can help you move on."

"I don't know how you'll help, but... Okay. It all started on my homeworld, the Destiny Islands. I always wanted off that world. It was so small, and everything was always the same, day after day. When the Heartless attacked, I stepped through the Door to Darkness to escape, and ended up in Hollow Bastion, where Maleficent found me. You remember Maleficent?" Lambda nodded. "Okay. She apparently thought I would be useful to her, so she immediately started in with a 'you're like a son to me' act that I didn't buy for a second. However, I did need her help to find Kairi."

"Who's Kairi?" Lambda interrupted.

"Oh, right, you never saw her. On the Destiny Islands, there were six of us kids: Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, Sora, Kairi, and myself. Sora, Kairi, and I were always together, and I kind of developed a crush on Kairi. Sora did too, and we always competed to see who was better. Anyway, when the Heartless attacked, Kairi's heart was stolen. Fortunately, it didn't turn into a Heartless, because Kairi is a special person with no Darkness in her heart. Apparently, there are only seven of these Princesses of Heart, and Maleficent wanted me to find them all to open Kingdom Hearts, though she referred to it as the 'heart of all worlds.' What that amounted to was kidnapping, and I...well, I did it. I kidnapped and gathered all six of the other princesses, using this ship to travel from world to world. Along the way, Maleficent awakened the Darkness inside me, so I could control the Heartless. When Sora came to this ship, I created a shadow for him to fight and took Kairi through a Corridor of Darkness to keep her away from him, as though Kairi would get her heart back and give it to me. Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Lambda patted Riku's shoulder. "Wow, it sounds like you had it rough."

"How can you say that? I was the one making everything harder for Sora, by helping the bad guys. How can you still care about me?" Riku seemed on the verge of tears.

"Because ever since we met, you've done nothing but help me. You're not one of the bad guys, Riku. From what I'm hearing, Maleficent's at fault for feeding you faulty information. She said if you opened Kingdom Hearts, you'd find Kairi's heart in there, right?"

"Yes. She also said I was the true Keyblade Master, and with a strong enough heart, I could take the Keyblade from Sora. Turns out she was right, and when Sora came to Hollow Bastion, I took the Keyblade from him. I left him with an old wooden practice sword, and Donald and Goofy followed me. But Sora didn't give up, even alone with no weapon. He fought his way into the castle, and by proving his heart was stronger, he took the Keyblade back. He defeated me with it, and I ran. My heart was weaker than ever, and when Ansem appeared again for the first time since the Destiny Islands, when I went through the Door to Darkness, I let him into my heart, and he used my body to fight Sora again, armed with a Keyblade made from six of the Princesses' hearts. Sora won, and broke the Keyblade of heart by piercing himself with it, trying to free Kairi's heart from his own. Kairi woke up, but Sora turned into a Heartless. I guess it was their true love that saved him. When Ansem showed up again, trying to kill Kairi, I stopped him. I wouldn't let him use me to hurt her, but why did I let him hurt Sora? Either way, I think that was when I got a new body in the Realm of Darkness. You know the rest of the story from there." Riku took a deep breath. "So that's why I've been beating myself up. I've done a _lot_ of bad things recently, and Sora had to clean up my mess. I'm not worthy of the Keyblade, so how could I be worthy of your trust?"

Lambda put a finger under Riku's chin, forcing him to make eye contact. "Riku, you can't give up. You hear me? You made a promise to Mickey, remember? That no matter what, you'd keep believing! You still have things you can do to help Sora, and from the sound of it, he doesn't blame you for anything, so why should I? And who knows? Maybe you'll get your own Keyblade one day. Mickey said there's more than one. It's something to work towards, at least. So let's get to it." Lambda turned towards the next door. "We have to get out of this castle before anything else, so please promise me you'll at least keep going."

"...I promise, Lambda." Riku caught up, and opened the door.

A few rooms later, the Crown Door opened to the deck of the ship, where a man with a long, pointy mustache and a red outfit waited with a rapier in his good hand-the one not replaced with a hook. "Swoggle me eyes, if it isn't Maleficent's pet codfish! Still playing swabbie to the Darkness, Riku?"

Riku summoned Soul Eater. "Shut up, Captain Hook. I'm not a pawn of the Darkness anymore! Let's get this over with." He rushed in, with Lambda following on his heels. As their blades clashed, Lambda summoned a sword from behind Captain Hook. It stabbed him in the butt, causing him to jump five feet straight up. He didn't have a chance to come down before Riku jumped after him, sword flowing in the destructive arcs of an aerial combo. The last blow hit Hook straight down, onto Lambda's next attack. The Spike Chaser summoned a line of swords from the ground, hitting Hook into the air again. Lambda hovered upward, summoning swords to pierce Hook from all directions, followed by a Crescent Saber to smash him to the ground. Riku was there to point a sword at Hook's neck, but the captain didn't get up again. He vanished, and the victorious pair found themselves at the Conqueror's Respite.

A short ladder climb later, they were back in an entrance hall of Castle Oblivion. Lambda noted, "Strange. There's no presence here. I was sure Vexen would have a trap for us by now."

Riku shook his head. "Well, we can't write him off just yet. He'll probably be back on the next floor. This "Halloween Town" is the last card, so we'll have to get more somehow. We'll figure that out later. Ready?"

"Ready!" Together they opened the next door.


	8. What are You Supposed To Be?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 8: "What Are You Supposed To Be?"**

_A/N: Apologies for the horrendous delay. No excuses. I should have had this up months ago. Well, it's up now, and we'll finally see Halloween Town and the fights during and after. I'm slightly worried about how I handled this..._

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As the light faded from the opening of the big door, Lambda scanned the area Riku called "Halloween Town." All the color seemed to have faded from the buildings, the streets, and Riku, too.

"Riku, what's with the color on this floor?" Lambda asked. "Everything's gray. Is it a problem with my vision?"

"No, that's just the way Halloween Town works, or so I heard from Oogie Boogie."

"Oogie Boogie?"

"Stupid name, huh? I never actually visited this world, but it was his homeworld. He was literally a big sack of insects in Maleficent's group of villains. Not the best fighter, but he always picked his battleground well. We'll probably have to fight him, or my memory of him, since Sora beat him, too."

"Oh. I guess I'll wait and see. Let's fight some Heartless."

The Heartless population in Halloween Town was slightly different from the other worlds they'd visited thus far. Tall, thin Wight Knights, and vanishing Gargoyles were Heartless absent from other worlds. They weren't much harder to beat, though. Soon, the two friends found themselves at the Crown Door.

Walking through, the pair found themselves indoors. There appeared to be a giant slot machine on the far wall, and Oogie Boogie himself stood on a raised platform in front of it. He spoke, and Lambda saw that the burlap sack that was his body was, in fact, full of disgusting bugs of all varieties. "Ha, ha, ha, ha! Maleficent's brat is here, now? Are we gonna do this thing?"

"Shut up, you disgusting tub of bugs."

"All I needed to hear. Let's get this party started!" With that, Oogie waved a misshapen limb, and a fence rose between the two parties.

"Lambda, can you fit a sword between those posts?" Riku eyed the fence.

"Negative. There's some kind of barrier between them. We'll have to lower the fence." Lambda reported.

"How do we-watch out!" Riku called, as Oogie Boogie tossed some oversized dice at Lambda. Lambda back-stepped, and the dice settled and lost their dangerous aura. "How did he get those through the fence? That's unfair."

"Maybe they can be hit back across?" Lambda swept her floating blades at the dice, intending to knock them back at Oogie, but they shattered instead. The middle dice shot out a card that bounced towards Riku.

"I recognize this. There was one when we fought Maleficent, too..." Riku gripped the card.

"Less talk, more beating!" Oogie called out, as he tossed more dice. Riku calmly sidestepped.

"Alright, you asked for it!" Riku held the card aloft and focused. A wave of energy spread across the field, doing nothing to Lambda, but it caused the fence to drop out of sight. Oogie was stunned as well. "Here it comes! Maelstrom!" Riku leaped aboard Oogie's platform and delivered a spinning attack to the defenseless sack. Oogie Boogie literally came apart at the seams, and all the bugs scattered away from the victorious pair. "Another one down. Is this really helping?" As Riku wondered aloud, the room faded out.

After a short ladder climb and a shorter rest period, Riku and Lambda left Halloween Town. Almost immediately, they were confronted with Vexen's twofold trap.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Riku yelled, as his mirror image walked forward. Everything about Riku was reflected in his double, right down to his clothes.

"Scanning. Targets identified as replicas of us." Lambda reported, eyeing the other newcomer. It looked like Lambda's combat mode, but there was no reading of a soul. The Riku replica had a soul of its own, but it wasn't the same as Riku's. The significant differences in mindset allowed Lambda to differentiate between the two.

"Surprised? I guess you would be," The Riku replica chuckled. "After all, we look exactly the same."

"So you're like a fake me?" Riku asked, inadvertently pushing the replica's berserk button.

"I'm not a 'Fake!' I'm an exact replica of you that Vexen created from your data. I don't care if you're real! You're not better! We have the same body and the same talents. There is an easy way to tell us apart, though..." The replica gave a telling smirk.

"And what's that?" Riku wondered.

"Easy! Unlike you, I fear nothing!" The replica pointed its copy of Riku's finger.

"What?" Riku demanded.

"You're scared of the dark! The Darkness inside you still frightens you, no matter what you say. But not me. I can make the Darkness do whatever I want!" The replica summoned his own Dark Mode to illustrate his point.

"There was a time I thought that. Look where it's got me. Do you really think you can handle the Darkness, when you were born maybe an hour ago?" Riku questioned, readying his Soul Eater.

"Yes. I have confidence that you don't. So... I can wipe the floor with you!" The replica summoned his own Soul Eater, and both Riku's took identical fighting stances.

Meanwhile, Lambda stared at her own replica. "Identify yourself."

"Identification: Lambda-11-R. Orders are to engage the hostiles."

Lambda pondered this information, along with the sudden urge she had to rip this mockery to shreds. "Oh...! I get it. Lambda-11-R, you are an inferior model of the Murakumo line. I order you to self-destruct."

"...Acknowledged." And just like that, the replica of Lambda exploded.

"What?!" Both Rikus stopped charging at each other at the revelation. "What did you do?" They demanded simultaneously.

"All Murakumo Units have a pesky standing order to terminate inferior units. I can order an inferior unit to self-destruct, but a unit with a soul, like me, can veto the order. Vexen can't make a real Murakumo without a Cauldron, so I banked on a gamble. Now, were you two doing something?" Lambda pointed out the weapons that were still leveled at each other's throats mid-lunge.

"Crap! This turns the tables. Secret weapon time," the replica nodded to itself. "Lambda, activate control mode!"

Riku jerked, but Lambda just arched an eyebrow. "Do you think I'm that stupid? You just said you're different from Riku. Therefore, you're not Riku. Therefore-therefore, you don't have access to that protocol. And you just got on my bad side. Legacy Edge." Lambda stuck the replica to the wall with forty small daggers, and when they disappeared, he slumped to the floor.

Riku called out, "Hey, FAKE! I thought you said you would wipe the floor with me."

"Ugh. Don't forget, I'm still new. I'll get stronger and stronger. The next time we fight, you're finished!" The Replica stood up.

"Then let's fight now!" Riku dashed and struck, but was repelled by a burst of Darkness.

"You are missing out! It's nice having Darkness on my side. See you later, Real Thing. Hope you don't miss me!" The replica turned and ran up the stairs.

"Riku, are you alright?" Lambda offered a hand, and Riku took it to stand up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That darn Fake! Let's get after him!"

The two dashed up the stairs, but saw only the usual sealed great door.

"Where are you, Fake! Come out!"

**Fake? That's not quite the right word...** A voice-_the_ Voice-mused aloud.

"Ansem?" Riku gasped.

"Yes, it is I." Ansem appeared in a swirl of Darkness.

"But the replica is a copy of Riku, yes?" Lambda asked.

"More like a model," Ansem replied. "He is an example of what you could be. He embraces the Darkness, much like you couldn't help but accept me. All your fighting, and you're still no further from escaping your Darkness, Riku."

"I won't accept that. I'll keep fighting! I still have eight floors to go, and I haven't given up yet." Riku growled.

"Fine. Then continue your fight, if you must. Eventually, you will see. You cannot fight the Darkness." Ansem tossed Riku a pack of new World Cards, then vanished the same way he appeared without a fight.

"Grr..." Riku trembled a bit, and he couldn't say for sure whether it was from impotent anger or latent fear.

"That Ansem is kind of a stalker, isn't he? No means no. Even robots know that!" Lambda tried to cheer Riku up.

"Yeah, I guess if it comes to that, I'll beat it into him. I don't know if I'm ready yet, though..."

"Well, we have four more floors here to prepare. Let's try this "Atlantica" place next.

"Fine. You might not like it, though..." Riku opened the door.

"What do you mean by that...?"

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_ Thanks to anyone still here for sticking with me through my long absence. I would like your opinion on something: should I cram a couple uneventful Disney worlds into one chapter, to get to the Lexaeus fight faster, or should I make each world its own chapter? Mysteriousguy898, signing out for now!_


	9. How Does That Even Work?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 9: "How Does That Work?"**

_A/N: Also known as "I Can't Believe It's Not Water!" Sorry about the long waits. Here, we have what is normally a filler world. Nothing happens in-game in Atlantica except the fight with Ursula. However, I figure Lambda would freak out over the whole idea of being underwater the whole time, even if Murakumo Units don't strictly need to breathe air. I doubt there's air in the Boundary, anyway. The alternate title above is a reference to an old "healthy" food product called "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" Possibly the worst name for a butter substitute of all time... And now, back to our show!_

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Walking through the door after Riku, Lambda's systems immediately began setting off internal alarms, raising threat levels, and generally freaking out. She couldn't figure out whether or not she was underwater. Her touch sensors said that yes, she was in some sort of liquid. Her sense of taste claimed it was salt water. However, her balance sensors and battle protocols noticed that the liquid didn't impede movement any more than normal air and had no buoyancy, and other sensors reported that a human should be able to breathe this stuff, while conflicting reports claiming that humans can't breathe liquids came in from sensors the other artificial lung. Threat levels were rising, for her own battle performance and for Riku's health. She looked over, and the points about Riku calmed down some, since he seemed to be fine.

Lambda clutched her head to stave off the headache that told anyone who knew about these things that she was receiving too many error messages to deal with them all at once. "Ahh...!" What came out of Lambda's mouth was somewhere between a grunt and a squeak, and it caught Riku's attention. It also produced another error message, since the squeak was audible even though most of her sensors proclaimed she was underwater, where her voice shouldn't function as well.

Riku rushed back to Lambda's side. "Lambda, what's wrong? I thought this would be like Wonderland, but is it even worse?"

"Y-yeah. Part of my sensor array says I'm underwater, another part doesn't, and the discrepancy means all my sensors think they're calibrated wrong. I'm getting errors about how I might overcompensate in battle, conflicting errors about how I might _under_-compensate, and my mind can't sort through them fast enough to get rid of the headache caused by too many errors. I'm...getting it under control, but it'll take a second, and I'll probably have to sort through them again if we have to fight. That's...bad, isn't it?" Lambda was slowly getting her breathing display under control despite the errors caused by breathing what she thought was water.

Riku leaned over to see her face, and grimaced at her pained expression. He didn't understand the whole robot thing, and if this was the problem, how could he help Lambda? "Well, if it helps, the whole place is an illusion, and Sora had a friend that used magic to breathe underwater. Just accept that it's magic; it works for me." It really didn't pay to question magic.

"So, there's more to magic in this world than fireballs and healing? I can believe it. Wow, that helped a _lot_." Lambda stood up straight. It turned out that the error messaging system had a fail-safe specifically for handling magic, since magic_never_ makes sense to machines, even those built to work with Ars Magus. Any message that could actually be explained by magic could be discarded immediately if there was no direct threat besides magical illusions. She expected to have to sort them again if some giant monster attacked, though. "Okay, I'm fine for now. That was an unexpected bonus; I learned I can ignore any weirdness in the whole of Castle Oblivion because magic is always involved."

Riku breathed a watery sigh of relief. "Okay, good to know. Anyway, I never went to this world. Like with Halloween Town, I only heard stories from the villains I was working with. The one here was named Ursula, and she basically wanted to take over this world of Atlantica by stealing a powerful Trident from the king. From what I gathered listening to Maleficent and Hook, Ursula did steal the Trident, but I never saw her again because Sora beat her anyway. I'm not looking forward to fighting her here."

"Why not? Is she strong?"

"No, but she's really, _really_ ugly. Think of the fattest woman you can imagine, then make her skin purple, add warts and too much make-up, and give her the lower body of a big, black octopus. I don't know what she uses to fight. If we're unlucky, the Ursula here will have the Trident."

Lambda's eyes widened at the mention of the Trident. "A weapon strong enough to take over the world? I hope we're ready."

A few minutes later, the pair were fighting a large group of jellyfish-like Heartless that appeared to swim in the water, even though Riku and Lambda couldn't even jump higher here. The Heartless thankfully didn't use much teamwork; their unpredictable movement would have been even harder to handle if the two friends were surrounded. Lambda had to block an error message every time she targeted an enemy for Sword Summoner, which was reducing her combat effectiveness. She just finished popping two jellyfish in front when one nailed her with a body slam from behind. Despite the soft appearance of the Heartless's body, it hit like a brick. Alarms went up in Lambda's head when she realized it had left acid on her back. "Riku, I'm taking acid damage! Summon Mickey!"

"Got it!" Riku pulled out the card, glowing brightly again with a couple floors' worth of unused energy. "Mickey, help Lambda!"

"Got it! Light!" Mickey's hologram appeared and blasted the area with Light power. Lambda's wounds healed, and the acid vanished. The Heartless, on the other hand, were all stunned simultaneously, and one of the jellyfish that Riku had weakened exploded. Lambda picked up her own slack by chopping up the rest. "Stay strong, you two! See ya!" Mickey vanished again.

"Yeah... Strength, to protect what matters..." Riku mumbled as the Heartless faded away.

"What did you say, Riku?" Lambda asked, moving closer after she verified that all the nearby Heartless were destroyed.

"I made a promise to keep a secret for a stranger, a really long time ago. He came from another world, and told me how I could get out there. Of course, I screwed up really badly. I took the easy way out through the Darkness, and now I'm paying the price. My Keyblade already decided it belongs with Sora, and now Ansem is constantly trying to eat at my heart." Riku fell silent.

"Did this stranger give you a Keyblade? Is that how Keyblades choose their masters?" Lambda was very interested in how the Keyblade chose its master. The idea was not unheard of, even in her old world; Lux Sanctus: Murakumo was a Nox Nyctores, a weapon with a will of its own. It chose a wielder to protect at all costs, and in return, the wielder paid a certain price, which could be anything from their health to their memories, but the price was rarely obvious at first. For the Nox she was given, Lambda was pretty sure the price was to never be seen as a human being, but Riku made her doubt that point. He saw her as just as much of a person as he was, and Lambda was worried that she didn't know what she was losing to her weapon anymore. There had to be something she was giving up-the Noxes never served for free-but what could it be?

"How did you know? Are you...worried for me?" Riku berated himself for whatever slip-up had allowed Lambda to divine his best-kept secret, the one thing he had never even told to Sora. If he had to keep the secret, would the Keyblade ever return to him? No, that was probably just to avoid meddling in other worlds, which was apparently a big taboo even before the Heartless made inter-world travel possible. Even so, he hoped he hadn't broken that stranger's trust.

"I'm not really that worried about you; you can handle the Darkness-don't deny it, the first step to losing is usually failing to believe you can win-and you did pretty well on the last few floors. I was thinking about the prices we pay for power. My weapon has a sort of will of its own. It'll protect me from anything, but I have to pay some sort of price. The problem is, it's already been taken, and I never even knew what it was. What if I need whatever I paid someday? Can you tell if I'm missing something I need?" Lambda asked.

"Well... you accepted the Darkness really easily, but that's only really strange because of the amount of power you got just from accepting it. Even I didn't get that strong with the Darkness right off the bat. But wait, did you ever feel the Light?"

"'Feel' the Light? How would I do that? Is that something you do with your heart?" The intricacies of the heart would probably be forever beyond Lambda's grasp, but then again, most humans never figured it out, either.

"Yeah. It's a warm sort of feeling, like someone who cares is looking out for you. I haven't felt it much since coming here, but it happened every time I needed to summon Mickey." Riku tried to explain the nebulous feelings he associated with the Light. Kairi also made Riku feel like that, and he'd felt it from Sora when he came back to Hollow Bastion-and continued all the way to the End of the World-just to save Riku. He got the feeling that Sora saw saving the worlds as an afterthought compared to finding Riku again, which would be a problem if Riku ever fell to Darkness again. How could he face Sora as he was now, with Ansem clawing at the confines of Riku's heart, possibly able to escape at any moment?

And as for Lambda, the Light was something everyone should get to feel at least once. Hearing that she had never known it was a stab to his gut, and it made him mad at whatever world could have deprived her of such a necessity. But that anger made him more aware of Ansem's Darkness, so he resolved to stop thinking about it. Lambda was never going back there, anyway. Not if Riku could help it.

"I guess it's possible that the Murakumo prevents me from gaining power from the Light, limiting me to using only the Darkness. I hope I can stay with you and your friends even if I never reach the Light, but even if I have to discard my Nox Nyctores someday, I wouldn't know how to do it. Anyway, I still need the Murakumo's power, at least for now. Maybe one day I'll be strong enough to continue on my own strength, instead of borrowing power from this." Lambda hoped so. It wasn't good to always depend only on the strength of others without giving some help back, and there was nothing Lambda could do to repay the Nox for its help in battle, so the power dynamic only went one way.

"That's a great goal to work toward, Lambda. Maybe I can get strong enough myself to beat my Darkness and get my Keyblade back. Are you ready to go on?" Riku clapped Lambda on the shoulder.

"Roger... wait a minute, we've been standing here, right in front of the Crown Door, for going on ten minutes! Alright, I guess introspection time is over! Let's beat up whatever darkling illusion Ansem cooked up this time." Lambda followed Riku into the Crown Door.

"Well, if it isn't the little guppy Maleficent brought home! I never liked you, but I didn't think you'd betray us so soon!" Clouds of black ink flooded the chasm surrounding the platform Riku and Lambda were standing upon. Lambda jumped back as two huge black tentacles, studded on their undersides with purple suction cups, slammed into the platform. Ursula's face rose from the ink, much larger than Lambda expected. In the right hand of her humanoid torso, she clutched a golden trident that had to be at least twenty feet long.

The first thing out of Lambda's mouth was, "Whoa! You weren't kidding about her being ugly, Riku."

"Yeah, but she was five times smaller when I saw her last! Well, the bigger they are..." Riku trailed off. "But how do we hit her from over there? I'm not jumping that far out."

"I'll stab her face. You work on those tentacles; I'm sure she won't like being knocked off the platform." Lambda activated Murakumo and sent a sword at Ursula's face, only to have it blocked by the Trident.

"You think I'll let you just stand around and discuss strategy? This won't be pretty for you!" Ursula sprayed a mass of glowing bubbles from her absurdly red lips. Experimentally, Lambda shot one, and the resulting explosion took out four nearby bubbles. Lambda expected moderate damage if she was hit by a blast, so she back-stepped and shot the rest in turn.

"I think I've got this one... Ha!" Riku lopped the end off of a tentacle that was trying to sweep him off the edge, and a Gimmick Card flew out of the wound. "Perfect! Take this, sea witch!" Riku activated the card, and a large whirlpool formed around Ursula's head. It sucked all the breath from her lungs and left her dizzy, causing her massive head to slump onto the platform. "Lambda, give me a Gravity Seed under her ugly chin!"

"Acknowledged... Deploying field." Lambda created the purple field of increased gravity halfway under Ursula's head, leaving room for Riku's next move.

As in the first battle with Ansem, Riku used the added downward force of the Gravity Seed to bring Soul Eater down on Ursula's skull. "Impulse!" Ursula howled, clutched her wound, and faded away entirely. "Well, good to see that still works. I didn't even have to use Dark Mode here. I guess I must be getting stronger. In your face, Ansem!" Riku shouted that last part to the ceiling of the Conqueror's Respite room.

"We'd better not get cocky, Riku," Lambda warned. "We still haven't seen any other members of the Organization that Vexen worked for. We haven't even seen all of Vexen's power, and he immobilized me way too easily," and she shuddered at the memory of that helplessness.

"Good point. Well, let's see how the next floor wants to test us. No sense waiting, since I'm not tired. Are you?"

"Not really. Let's try 'Agrabah' next. It looked like there was a lot less water involved, and whoever's there can't possibly be as ugly as Ursula or Oogie Boogie." Lambda and Riku set foot in the next Entry Hall.


	10. How Do You Do That?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 10: "How do you do that?"**

_A/N: I'm really sorry for the wait. At least, that's what I would say if I had any intention of doing it differently. Of course, there was that point when the front of my laptop's monitor popped off with a rather dramatic POP sound, but that was weeks after the last update. I did get encouragement from my brother to get this chapter out, though, so here it is. Speaking of my brother, his account (FierceDeityMask) contains some rather impressive poetry on such topics as Megaman Zero, Kingdom Hearts, The Legend of Zelda, and The Elder Scrolls. Check it out!_

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The door opened with a blast of heat. Agrabah was situated in a desert, so heat and sand were constant facts of life.

"Wow, it's hot here!" Riku exclaimed.

"Didn't you go to this world before?" Lambda asked.

"Well, yeah, but I ended up in a cave called the Cave of Wonders. I basically kidnapped Princess Jasmine while Sora and his friends were busy with a villain named Jafar, then I left. It wasn't quite this hot down there." Riku wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Did you see how Jafar fights? We'll probably have to fight him ourselves."

"No, I wasn't there long enough. I heard some cackling that got deeper as it continued, so he probably transformed. I'm not sure what he became, though." Riku shuddered. The thought of not being human anymore cut way too close to home.

Lambda summed up, "So, we know basically nothing about this enemy? We'd better train a little, then."

"Yeah. I need to either get better with a sword, or get more control over the Darkness, but even trying to train with the Darkness runs the risk that Ansem will try to body-snatch me." Riku's hand twitched, as though to summon his sword. "I can't let that happen."

"True, but you do need the practice. Right now, when he inevitably tries to take over, you'll be guaranteed to fail without help. And I don't know if Mickey can jump in to save us again." Lambda was worried about Mickey. The King was still in the Realm of Darkness, which was hostile territory, and he didn't seem to know a way out. If the King was fighting Heartless when Ansem attacked, and was too slow to notice? Lambda didn't want to think about it, especially since the thought made her tactical processor throw up a bunch of Riku's weaknesses, in case she had to kill him.

No. She would not kill this boy she'd chosen to protect. If she had to fight him, she'd fight to save him.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Riku huffed.

"You can always count on me for a frank analysis," Lambda tried to joke. The subject matter made it fall flat. "Seriously, though, your potential is just startling. How did you throw off that clump of Darkness in the fight with Vexen? I still have no clue how to use the Darkness except by following my routines, which means I can basically just summon a bunch of swords. Useful, but we're bound to fight someone resistant to bladed weapons one of these days."

Riku hesitated, then agreed. "...If it'll help you, and if you're pretty sure it's safe, I'll try it. Of course, most of what I know about Darkness is what I learned from Maleficent. Some of it's bound to be junk she made up to keep me from getting too strong for her."

"I just need to know the basics," Lambda replied. "I assume that suit that appears when you use the Darkness is not a basic technique, so we don't need to go that far. How did you throw the dark fireball thing?"

"Oh, Maleficent called that Dark Firaga, but we need to jump back a step. First, you need to find the Darkness and focus it. The Darkness calls to emotions like jealousy, rage, and desire, and you can follow that feeling back to the Darkness. So, Lambda, since rage is hopefully not something you're feeling right now, what do you want most?" Riku asked.

Lambda took a second to respond. "To keep you safe, but that's a Light kind of feeling, isn't it?"

Riku hummed. "Yeah, that does sound like something Sora would say. Let's focus on the how. What do you need to protect me from?"

That was easy. "Ansem, the Heartless, and that Organization, all of which are out to steal your free will. As a machine designed not to have any free will, I hate that they would squander yours, too. Wait..." There it was! As the flame of hatred briefly burned in Lambda's chest, she figured out where the Darkness was and what it would do for her. The tough part would be making it do things it wouldn't normally do, which was where Riku came in. "Okay, I think I've figured it out! I've found the Darkness, and I think I know how to throw a Dark Firaga!" Lambda summoned dark flames to her hand to prove it.

"Careful with that. The Darkness doesn't know about friends and foes, so you might hurt me with any attack that uses it. Please don't do that." Riku eyed the flames warily, but Lambda thankfully threw the Dark Firaga at a Fat Bandit that decided it couldn't wait for the pair to come to it. "Wow. It took me three tries to get that right! Are you sure I'm better at using the Darkness than you?"

"Well, you're better at innovating, which means getting the Darkness to do new things instead of following the instincts it comes from. I don't know where to start at materializing an awesome battle suit, since Murakumo usually handles that. You know, that innovation and re-purposing of the Darkness might give you an edge over Ansem. Make the Darkness bend to _your_ will in ways it usually wouldn't, and Ansem's will won't be able to stop you!"

"Well, I guess I could try. And what do you know, here come the Heartless! I'm going to try manipulating a Dark Barrier. The Heartless use them to cut off escape routes, but I bet they'd work great at blocking attacks, too. Darkness!" Heeding Riku's call, his D-Mode suit materialized around him. He summoned Soul Eater in his combat stance, and twitched his extended fingers in the universal "Come at me, bro!" kind of gesture. The Heartless, mindless beasts that they were, took the bait, and a Bandit in a turban threw a large scimitar at Riku. "HA!" At the last moment, Riku flipped his hand so the palm faced outward, and a pane of interlocking hexagons materialized in front of him. The barrier shattered on impact, but the scimitar bounced straight backwards, now sheathed in a dangerous dark aura. The rebounded projectile slammed into the Heartless that threw it for an instant kill. Riku followed up with a leaping slash to the Fat Bandit's forehead as soon as the barrier broke. "Two down! I think I'll call that one Dark Shield."

"Wow, a new move already! Let me have the last two... Bandits, they're called. Did the Darkness tell me that?" Lambda didn't stop to analyze it, but instead threw a Dark Firaga at one and a pair of swords at the other. Heart-shaped masses of pinkish light floated skyward as the Heartless exploded. "That's all of them. Hey, if they're called 'Heartless', why do hearts pop out when we beat the ones with the emblems?"

"Those are just the hearts they stole to multiply. They really are abominations, so don't feel bad about popping them. I never do. It's different fighting actual people, isn't it?" Riku mused.

"Yeah. It leaves a bad taste, snuffing out intelligent life." Lambda recalled Vexen, and how they might have to kill someone like him. Was it worth it to kill even a jerk like him in self defense? Then again, she _was_ a weapon. Hesitation, she knew, equaled death in any real combat. Either way, "It's almost fun killing Heartless, though, so we couldn't ask for better training. Here comes the next set! Three Bandits, one Fat Bandit, and five Shadows detected. Collective threat is C-tier. Let's go!"

Several fights later, Riku was somewhat more comfortable activating D-Mode in combat. It helped that Ansem didn't stir in that time. Lambda followed him to the Crown Door, and nodded to his unspoken question. Yes, they were ready. Riku raised the proper cards, and the door opened.

"Whoa! I thought the desert was hot, but this is something else!" Riku wiped his brow, then looked around for their enemy. The source of the heat was a moat of lava surrounding them on all sides.

"If you can't take the heat, perish in the fire!" Jafar's odd accent preceded a giant, red humanoid rising from the lava behind them. He was entirely naked, but his body faded to a wisp below the waist, so it wasn't obscene. What was obscene was the size of the boulder Genie Jafar was hefting over his head. "TAKE THIS!"

Lambda and Riku split up to dive out of the way, and barely managed to clear the rock's impact zone. "Attack evaded. Scanning... Target threat level is A. Addendum: No weak points detected. Target's body is invincible." Lambda reported in her monotone.

"That's no good! There's got to be a way to beat him! Darkness!" Riku readied D-Mode and launched a Dark Firaga. As predicted, the energy splashed against Jafar's chiseled, red chest with no effect.

"HA! Nice try, kid! NOW who's the bird brain?" Riku's head snapped up to spy Jafar's semi-loyal intelligent parrot, Iago. He was fluttering high above the arena, holding a purple oil lamp.

"That's it! Lambda, help me get that lamp from Iago!" Riku jumped, but couldn't quite hit the bird way up there.

"Darn it, me and my big beak! Jafar, why are you just standing there? Do something!" At Iago's behest, Jafar stopped gloating over his invincibility and gathered power for an energy beam. Riku ran away as it traced his path. This left Lambda completely free to pepper Iago with swords. The lamp blocked them with a strange barrier, but the barrier weakened with each hit. Suddenly, the block underneath Riku's feet shot upward while Lambda's footing sank downward, disrupting her aim. This left Riku right underneath Iago's talons, and he smashed the barrier with a jumping attack.

"Gotcha! I'll take that. Jafar, back to your prison!" Riku snatched the lamp from Iago, and lifted it spout-first at Jafar, who was sucked in. The lamp disappeared, along with the room.

"Mission accomplished?" Lambda guessed.

"Yeah. Let's get out of this heat. One card left, and that's 'Olympus Coliseum'." Riku was looking forward to deflating the ego of Maleficent's last co-villain.

"Sounds interesting. What will we do when we run out of cards? There's still three more floors after that," Lambda noted.

"We'll figure that out when we get there. The last two times, Ansem showed up and gave us more cards. Even if he doesn't, I'm sure someone will. These things tend to work themselves out," Riku decided.


	11. How Do You Kill a God?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 11: How Do You Kill a God?**

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_A/N: Yep, it's here! Riku and Lambda are back for the last of the Disney "worlds"/floors! This time it's Olympus Coliseum. Hades goes all Yuuki Terumi from Blazblue against Riku by working at psychological weaknesses. This is mostly filler, but it sets Riku into the proper mindset to follow the rest of the story._

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"So this is Olympus Coliseum?" Lambda took in the architecture and pegged it as Ancient Greek. Were there connections between this universe and the one from which she'd disappeared?

"Yep, I never had a reason to come here, but Hades was always going on about 'Zeus' toy box' this and 'the geezer gods' shiny piece of *BEEP*' that." Riku figured Hades was just jealous. The place was quite impressive, starting with the fact that it floated above the clouds.

"Who's Hades? Is that the Greek god of the Underworld?" Could these "worlds" be fragmented from an "Earth" in this universe? Come to think of it, Mickey said something about that...

"Yep. One of Maleficent's co-villains, too. Which means we probably get to knock the sharp-toothed smirk off his face. Careful. Judging by his flaming hair, he has a lot of fire to throw around." Riku had seen through Maleficent's scrying table when Donald Duck had put Hades' hair out completely. It took all the effort of a thought on Hades' part to get it burning again, but it was hilarious while it lasted.

"Got it. Well, let's go. You can't keep a god waiting, especially when you're trying to kill him." Although Lambda doubted they'd actually have to kill this version of Hades, or that they'd even be able to kill a god. "Say, is it even possible to hurt Hades?"

"Yep. Sora fought in a tournament here, and whipped his blue hide. He can be hurt and even defeated when he's outside the Underworld, but I don't think outright killing him is an option." A god of the dead was especially tricky, since killing him would just send him to the place where he was most powerful.

"Good thing we won't actually have to, then. Hey, that Heartless looks like a monkey." And just like that, the conversation was over and the fighting began. It turned out that Powerwilds liked to attack in large groups from all directions, though their synchronization wasn't as good as that of the Shadows. They were especially vulnerable to Lambda's ranged Sword Summoner, though, so that was easy. It wasn't long before they made it to the main arena, behind the Crown Door.

"Well, well! It's the most recent failure in a long string of dark warriors!" Hades laughed, showing his sharp teeth.

"What do you mean?" Riku demanded.

"You failed. You couldn't beat Sora, even with more Darkness than even Maleficent could handle. You couldn't handle that Darkness, either, and here we are, all us figments of your memory trying to beat it into your thick skull that you're way too weak to handle the decathlon of Darkness you've landed in. I'd bet twenty drachmas you won't last two more floors. That's if you can beat me, that is! Oh, yeah! This is gonna be GOOD!" With the last word, Hades erupted in a pillar of fire, emerging with a much redder color scheme. Lambda noted that the power he was giving off doubled in this new form.

"Riku, here he comes! Riku?" Riku was standing there with his head hanging low and his fists clenched.

"What if he's right? I can't keep running from the Darkness, not if I want to get home with Sora. They'll keep this up forever, and I might not be able to win next time."

"That's more like it! Eat this!" Hades lobbed an inordinately-large fireball at Riku while he was looking away, but Lambda dove into him to avoid it with him.

"Riku, get up! There won't be a next time if you just let him fry you like that! Just get through this fight!" Lambda dragged Riku to his feet, and launched swords at Hades. He took the hits right in the face, but in a poof of smoke and embers, he disappeared to teleport to another spot, apparently unharmed. "Target damage minimal. Recommend maximum force."

"Meaning Dark Mode, right? It seems like I'm relying too much on this... Darkness!" Riku activated his Dark Mode, and leaped high into the air, coming down on Hades' head. Hades staggered under the force of the attack, and teleported away... only to be hit by another leaping strike. This repeated five more times, with the last two attacks hitting Hades' prone back after he fell over. Hades vanished along with Dark Mode and the arena.

"This is getting us nowhere, but I don't see another option. Let's get upstairs, and see what we can do with no more World Cards." Riku climbed the ladder, with Lambda following after.

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_A/N: Ridiculously short for the amount of time I took, I know. Next time, you'll see the best scene I've got in my head, the Lexaeus fight and immediate consequences thereof. I hope to get it out much faster than I've been going, but it will be Christmas soon, and I'll be very distracted. Still, I'm shooting for getting the next chapter out before the end of December._


	12. Why Are They Interested?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 12: Why Are They Interested?**

_A/N: My *cough* sincerest apologies for missing my self-set deadline of New Year's. I think this is still faster than the last update, but that's not saying much. Anyway, this is the best scene I think the story will have. I've been picturing it for about eight chapters now._

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Riku pushed open the door to the next Entry Hall, and stopped short at the sight of another black-cloaked man. His unruly brown hair spiked and frizzed over a face seemingly chiseled out of his head, all sharp angles and ridges. Riku sniffed. "That scent... you're another one of those 'Nobodies.'"

"Indeed. Your potential is obvious. But, to possess your powers, and yet fear the Darkness... What a waste."

"I do not... fear it!" Riku growled.

"I sense that you do." Riku didn't have anything to say to that. Lambda caught up, and started scanning the newcomer. "Now, stop resisting, and let the Darkness in!" The black-cloaked stranger punched the ground, and it actually cracked. Out of the rapidly-sealing fissure shot a huge tomahawk, which the Nobody caught in one hand as though it weighed nothing, even though Lambda judged its mass to be practically unrealistic. She started measuring in tonnes rather than kilograms.

"And if I say no?" Riku half-asked, half-challenged.

"Then you lose both Light and Darkness... and disappear!" The stranger's voice never rose, but a wave of pure force mingled with Darkness blasted out of him, knocking over flowery decorations on the walls and pushing the two friends back. It was all Lambda could do to stay upright, and Riku was having just as much trouble. "I, Lexaeus, will not yield to the frail heart of an infantile coward! Come at me!" Lexaeus fell into a fighting stance, and the wave of power subsided. However, the energy Lambda was getting from him didn't decrease. He was just using it in a different way: powering his muscles for a massive overhead swing as he charged at Riku. Riku barely managed to escape the first blow, but rocks burst from nowhere at the point of impact and jabbed him in the stomach.

"Argh! Mickey, help me out!" Mickey appeared in a flash of light, healing Riku's wounds and knocking Lexaeus back a foot. However, he wasn't stunned the same way the Heartless had been. Mickey disappeared, and the fight was back to square one.

"Summoning Lux Sanctus. Spike Chaser." Lambda, clad in Murakumo's battle armor, raised a line of swords from the ground, catching Lexaeus and throwing him in the air. "Summoning." Lambda jumped into the air after Lexaeus, sending swords to stab him from all directions. "Zwei. Drei. Vier. Funf. Sechs. Acht. Crescent Saber." Lambda counted eight pairs of swords-in German, no less-and finished the combo by slamming Lexaeus to the ground with a curved blade. However, Lexaeus landed easily, with no visible wounds. Scans revealed that she'd made an impact, but she hadn't pierced his flesh. He didn't seem to feel the bruises under his coat. "Gravity Seed. Riku, try that Impulse attack!" Landing, Lambda deployed a gravity-enhancing field under Lexaeus, and Riku slammed down as before.

"Don't mock me!" Lexaeus, unhindered by the five-fold gravity, smacked Riku out of the air. He impacted the ceiling with a loud grunt, and fell to the ground. "You were too much trouble... But now it's over." Lexaeus raised his tomahawk for a killing blow, but paused. Riku was sheathed in Darkness, and grabbed his sword. Then, he was gone. The sound of a sword slicing air was heard, and Riku reappeared behind Lexaeus, clad in his Dark Mode suit.

"Too slow." Riku's voice was overlaid with another familiar tone. The strange duality shook Lambda to the core, more than the fact that there was a deep, smoking gash in Lexaeus' side.

"You really are the Superior's... Ugh! Zexion, forgive me. This was a fight I should not have started." Lexaeus wavered, then vanished into smoke and Darkness, gone for good. But the real fight had just begun.

"Riku, are you okay?" No, he wasn't. Lambda's scans revealed that Ansem was in control of Riku's body right now.

"Don't bother. Your voice can't reach him where he is. His heart belongs yet again to Darkness, and his body belongs to me!" Ansem chuckled, smirking with Riku's face.

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"Where am I?" Riku found himself floating in an abyss of Darkness. "Darkness as far as I can see."

"Riku..." The voice came from all around him.

"Lexaeus? No. Darkness this foul could only... only be..."

"That's right. Let me drift into your heart..."

"Ansem!"

"You called my name. You have been thinking about me... You're afraid of the Darkness that I command. And when I finally surface, I will take hold... Your heart will be mine!" Ansem appeared before Riku, and floated toward him with a hand outstretched. Oddly, this made Riku recall Lambda's comment about how Ansem only thought he commanded the Darkness. Still, in this place, it was pretty easy to believe...

Wait. Lambda! "If this is inside my heart, then he's controlling my body!" How could he save Lambda from himself? Only one option sprang to mind, a memory of Lambda's trust in Riku, and only Riku. "Lambda! If you can hear me, activate control mode! My orders: defend yourself from Ansem! Undo any limiters you have on right now! Try to distract him!"

"Ha ha ha... Do you think that toy can hear you? I already told it that you can't hear it." Ansem drew close, but then paused.

"Yeah... I think she can. Stay strong, Lambda. I'll try to fight, too!" Riku felt it then: his Light, long buried under Ansem's Darkness and his own. So this is what it was like. This was what could beat Ansem!

"That's right, Riku! Don't let him win!" Mickey showed up then, right in Riku's heart, arms splayed to the sides to block Ansem's advance. "I'm sure Lambda can hold out. Right now, concentrate on Ansem!"

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Lambda was frozen in fear as Riku-Ansem stepped forward slowly and confidently. Then, she heard a voice: Riku's voice, untainted by Ansem. "Lambda! If you can hear me, activate control mode! My orders: defend yourself from Ansem! Undo any limiters you have on right now! Try to distract him!" Lambda felt control mode take hold of her body, artificial muscles moving without her consent, but it didn't cause any fear. Instead, it filled her with relief and confidence-Riku was still fighting!

As it turned out, Lambda had put on a limiter when Riku mentioned that Ansem could show up at any time-a limiter she now removed, bumping Darkness output from 50% to 100%. The Darkness was a dangerous power if left uncontrolled, but she needed all the strength she could get right now. Her body leaped into action, starting with the forty small daggers of Legacy Edge. Ansem took the full brunt of the attack, which worried Lambda for Riku's safety, but control mode didn't stop there. An Act Parcer brought her into range to grab Ansem by the throat, and then she set her Petal blades to spear him from eight directions. He coughed up blood, and fell to the ground. Lambda kept him down with a Gravity Seed, and waited for a response, having satisfied control mode that Ansem was no longer a threat.

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"Meddlesome king! Must you interfere again?" Ansem raged at Mickey.

He should have been more worried about Riku, however. Riku jumped over Mickey's head in this strange dark space, aiming for Ansem with a manifestation of his Soul Eater. The blade pierced Ansem's undefended chest, and he faded away...for now. "Is it over?"

"Not yet, but we've won this round! I'll seal Ansem away again, and I'll find a way to you soon. That's a promise!" Mickey's voice was the last thing Riku heard as the darkness gave way to a bright light.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Riku's Dark Mode suit vanished, and he sat up. Then he coughed up blood again. "M-Mickey! Please help just a-a bit more!" Mickey showed up, flickering from a lack of charge time, but he managed to close Riku's wounds. Lambda looked on blankly, and Riku remembered what he'd done to get her to inflict those wounds on him. "Lambda, deactivate control mode. I'm okay for now." Lambda visibly relaxed. "Man, you sure didn't hold back. Great work, though! Thanks to you and Mickey, we managed to seal Ansem up again."

"Well, you did order me to remove my limiters. I wasn't able to hold back until Ansem was pacified, so control mode decided to apply a whole lot of force right away," Lambda explained. "Wait, you said Mickey was here?"

"I was fighting inside my heart while you fought my body. Mickey said he'll find a way to us. I believe him. I found my Light back there. I thought it was gone, but I guess Mickey was right again." Riku held a hand over his heart, feeling for that small, flickering Light inside his Darkness. "I hope I don't lose it again."

"Well, let's rest here until you've healed the rest of the way. I don't want to fight that Zexion that Lexaeus mentioned while you're this hurt. Oh, yeah, you should probably know that the first thing Ansem did with your body was eliminate Lexaeus in one stroke. I'm glad that I didn't give him time to attack me-and that he didn't seem to know that Dark Shield move you came up with-or he would have wrecked me." Really, it only seemed like Lambda was a better fighter because Ansem hadn't actually been able to fight.

"Yeah, let's rest for now. Ow... I'll wait until Mickey can heal me again." Riku winced as he slumped against the left-hand wall. Only three more basements remained to Castle Oblivion...


	13. Can I Face Them?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 13: Can I Face Them?**

_A/N: Super-duper sorry for the long wait (AGAIN). I got my laptop back a month ago, but I haven't been writing for no discernible reason. Anyway, here's the long awaited next chapter, in which Riku gets a little homesick and Zexion gets a stomachache. Or two. Or ten. And a sore throat, too._

Finally, Riku and Lambda were ready to ascend the stairs to Floor B3. On arrival at the entry hall, they were almost immediately hit by a powerful tremor that shook the whole castle to its foundations. Riku's nose twitched. "One of the scents has died. A really strong one. Did someone kill another Nobody?"

"The lord of Castle Oblivion, Marluxia, has just been felled by the Keybearer." A new voice called from in front of the next Great Door. The owner of the voice was another man in a black coat, obviously the uniform of the Organization.

"The Keybearer? You mean Sora! Sora's here?" Riku asked, eyes full of hope.

"My name is Zexion, not that you asked. And yes, he arrived some time ago. You want to see him, clearly. But can you face him?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I?" Riku wondered.

"The world of Darkness, and Ansem's shadow, still nest inside your heart. In that condition, you'd be a danger to your 'friend.'" Zexion pointed a finger at Riku's chest. Riku flinched.

"Riku, don't listen! He's playing mind games with you!" Lambda grasped Riku's shoulder.

"Yeah. So what, Zexion? Sora's beaten Ansem before." Riku nodded at Lambda.

"Fine. If you don't believe what I say..." Zexion suddenly flung a card at Riku with his other hand. "...Then you should see it for yourself."

"This card...It's..." Riku stared at the image on the card's face.

"Yes. It is your home..." Zexion confirmed as he vanished into a dark corridor. Riku dashed up to the podium, and immediately raised the card. The Great Door opened with the usual field of light.

"What's the rush, Riku?" Lambda noticed a tension in Riku's muscles. He really wanted to see this next world.

"I have to see it again..." Without further explanation, Riku walked through the door, and Lambda followed wordlessly.

The first thing that Lambda noted was the bright sunlight here. The area was a smallish tropical island, covered in palm trees, and a smaller islet to the south had a tree that bent way over the water, with strange, star-shaped fruit growing from it. Small wooden structures dotted the beach. "This is a really nice place, Riku. What did you call it? The Destiny Islands?"

"Yeah. I'm surprised. I used to think of nothing but getting off this rock. But now I'm all relieved. Hey, is that..." Riku took off, running toward three figures on the beach.

"Hello!" Lambda called ahead as she followed Riku over. "Who are these people, Riku?"

"Tidus, Wakka, Selphie! Are you okay?" Riku asked. No response. The three children just stood there and blinked. "Weird. I don't think I've ever seen the three of you this quiet. Are you sick or-hey!" Lambda blinked to reset her vision; the three of them just vanished instantly. No noise, no lights, no Darkness. It was like they were never there. "Where'd you go? Tidus! Wakka! Selphie!" Riku spun around, calling out.

"Riku...they're gone. We've got to figure out what happened just now. Is this part of what Zexion wanted to show us?" Lambda scanned the island for signs of life. "Nothing here, except... There! Zexion's on that islet! Let's make him talk!" Lambda took Riku's hand and sped off toward the bridge to the smaller islet.

When they got there, there was nobody there, not even a Nobody. "Where'd he go?" Looking around, Lambda missed when a redheaded girl popped into existence in front of them, facing away.

"Kairi..." Riku stretched a hand out to her, falteringly, as though afraid of her reaction. The girl-Kairi-turned, but just as they saw her deep blue eyes, she faded away. Riku fell to his knees and slammed the sandy ground with his fist. "No, no, no! This is all wrong!"

"No, it is quite correct." Zexion said, appearing behind them on the bridge in a cloud of Darkness. "Don't you remember what Maleficent told you? There is nothing but Darkness left in your heart. Your memories of home are gone-every single one."

"That's a lie! I remember everyone from the Islands! Sora and Kairi, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie, too! They're...my closest friends..." Riku rounded on Zexion, fists clenched, but faltered with his last words.

"And who threw away those friends? Maybe it's your own actions you've forgotten. You should look... Look at what you truly are!" Zexion pointed across from the two, and where he pointed, Riku appeared. Not the Riku still standing next to Lambda, or the Replica from four floors ago, so this had to be an image or illusion. Suddenly, everything flashed black, and when they could see again, the whole scene had changed. They were on a relatively large rock, floating in a swirling storm of Darkness. The Riku image was still across from them, but now it was gathering Darkness from around it, and as it turned around, it grew and twisted into a giant Heartless. _Darkside, _the voice in Lambda's head whispered.

"This... This can't be who I really am!" Riku gasped, taking a step back as the Darkside stepped forward.

"The Islands you grew up on were sundered, scattered. Many hearts were lost to the Darkness... because of what YOU did! YOU brought the Darkness and the Heartless to the Destiny Islands! It was YOU! Now, let the Darkness crush you, as befits a villain like you!" Zexion disappeared, and the Darkside advanced again. Riku ran away, but nearly fell over the edge of the rock into nothingness.

"Riku, hold your ground! We've fought tougher things than this! Summoning Lux Sanctus! Murakumo, activate!" Lambda transformed into Battle Mode, and shot swords at the Darkside's torso. These bounced off, and their foe slammed a giant fist into the ground, plunging it into a pool of Darkness from which smaller Shadows began to rise. Riku ran up the Darkside's arm, an effort which seemed foolhardy until he unleashed a very effective combo on the Darkside's unprotected face. The Heartless reeled backward, throwing Riku to the ground, and shot projectiles from a glowing mass of energy in the heart-shaped hole in its chest. Lambda batted these away, and they homed in on the Darkside instead. "Calamity Sword." While the giant Heartless was off balance, Lambda rushed in and dropped a massive sword from above onto its face. The beast roared and melted away. "Target terminated. Nice move there, Riku! ...Riku?" Lambda looked back at Riku to see him looking back at a boy with brown hair. Lambda recognized him from somewhere... It came back in a rush. He was at Kingdom Hearts, the one who fought Ansem. This was Sora.

"Sora... Hey, Sora?" Riku got close, and was about to tap Sora on the shoulder, when the younger boy suddenly swung around, slicing at Riku with the Keyblade. Riku leaped back. "Sora! Stop!" Rather than stop his assault, Sora leaped forward with an overhead swing, clashing against Riku's Soul Eater. "Sora, stop it! Don't you recognize me?" Riku yelled, trying desperately to gain purchase against the power of the Keybearer.

"Yeah, I recognize you. I can see...exactly what you've become!" Sora shoved Riku away onto his back, and launched a beam of Light from his Keyblade without hesitation. Riku screamed in pain as the Light burned into him. "How can the Light hurt you? Riku...have you really become a creature of the dark? No... you're not Riku anymore. You're just a pawn of the Darkness. So be it. It's time for you to face the Light!" Sora raised his Keyblade overhead, and Light blasted out of it, covering the whole area to the point where no one could see anything. Not that that mattered, since the pain washing over Riku and Lambda was all they could sense.

"Was that really Sora? He didn't seem the same as when we saw him back then...Argh, I can't think anymore! Am I going to die here?" Lambda wondered as the Light started to consume her.

"No, you won't. Riku won't, either. He's getting... some direction right now, direction he sorely needs. If all goes well, no power will be able to defeat Riku's convictions. Sora must be the one to save the worlds, but it will be up to Riku to save Sora and the others that matter to him. Like you, for example."

Lambda could have asked who this mysterious voice was-it seemed so familiar-but what she asked instead was, "I...matter to Riku? As much as Sora does? I see... Riku, you matter to me too. I'll wait for you, so stay strong, for us!" And he did. The Light surrounding them was cleaved in two, and when Lambda could see again, Riku was clad in his Dark Mode suit, Soul Eater extended after a mighty lunge. Sora was taken aback, having been heavily wounded by the strike. Darkness dripped off of him, leaving behind Zexion. An illusion!

"How? How did you find me, when you were there in the Light?" Zexion clutched his side and struggled to stand.

"You reek of Darkness. Even the Light can't block the smell. I guess...I followed the Darkness right to you." Riku smirked.

Zexion struggled to regain some confidence. "Heh. After all your protests, you're still like us, on the side of Darkness."

"I know who I am." The way Riku said it, it sounded final.

"When did that happen? You were always terrified of the dark before-"

"Not anymore!" Riku lunged through Zexion again, not giving him a chance to finish talking. Zexion was thrown to the edge of the platform.

"Then I will make you see. You'll see that your hopes are nothing...nothing but a mere illusion!" Zexion summoned his weapon...a book? Sure, it looked pretty heavy and solid, but a book? Zexion clearly still meant to fight via trickery, if that was his best direct weapon.

"I am Riku, and I will protect the things that matter to me! My Dark Aura will give me that strength, the same way my Light will! Get ready, Zexion!" Riku rose into the air, and charged forward with blinding speed. Zexion stood no chance trying to block with the cover of his book, and Riku cut through him and vanished through a dark portal. He re-emerged from a new direction and charged past again, repeating eight times from different sides. Then he appeared directly over Zexion's head, and crashed down in a burst of Darkness that raised pillars of energy from the ground all around him. Zexion crumbled to the ground, but disappeared into another Corridor of Darkness. "He got away..." Riku dismissed the D-Mode suit, and turned back toward Lambda. "Lambda, are you okay? Sorry I kind of ignored you there."

"I'm fine. Damage is only 5%. What happened in that Light, though? I heard a voice..."

"I saw Kairi in the Light. She told me, if I can look into the Darkness without fear, I can see through the deepest Darkness, and cut through the brightest Light. I promised her I would face my friends with my new strength. Was that the voice you heard?"

"No. There was a man's voice for me. He told me what Kairi was telling you, and also that if Sora is going to save the worlds, you will be the one who saves Sora and the others that matter to you...like me. And you did. You got me out of that Light before it consumed us. That was a very impressive show against Zexion, too; he didn't stand a chance. Thank you, Riku. I'll be the first to thank you for everything from here on in."

"You...you're welcome, Lambda. Let's go." Riku rubbed his neck. Was that a blush on Riku's cheeks? The room vanished, replaced by a version of the Conqueror's Respite modeled after the Destiny Islands from before the destruction they'd just witnessed. After a short rest, they climbed the ladder to Floor B2.

_In a dark room, deep in Castle Oblivion..._

Breathing heavily, Zexion stumbled out of the Dark Corridor. He could barely stand with the support of the wall. "How? No one has ever worn the Darkness like he does! It's NOT POSSIBLE!" Suddenly, Zexion smelled a presence in the room and whirled around, backing up against the wall at the sight of Riku. Zexion was convinced that this sensation was mortal terror, heart or no heart, but it faded at the sight of the flame-haired Axel standing behind the boy. "Ah, the Replica, of course. Good thinking, Axel. We can use this Riku to defeat the real one."

"You heard that, right?" Axel asked the Replica.

"Yeah."

"I bet you'd like to be real."

"...Yeah."

"Well, all you need is the kind of power the real Riku doesn't have. Once you find that, you'll be a new person, your _own_ self." The Replica straightened, daring to believe.

Zexion froze. "What are you telling him?"

"You know," Axel gestured to Zexion, "I think he's as good a place to start as any."

The Replica nodded, and stepped forward.

"No...NOOO!" After five seconds of gruesome choking, Zexion was no more, and the Riku Replica glowed with his power...


	14. Who is Namine?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 14: "Who is Namine?"**

_A/N: Once again, a month or two of waiting. I'm really not good at schedules... Anyway, I had a few ideas to shake up what happens in Twilight Town (Floor B2). I hope you enjoy...especially you, FierceDeityMask!_

_Tell me if the value for the first Crown Door on B2 was a 3-or-less blue card or something along the lines of 50 total in a review, if you can. I haven't played in some time, so some lines might not match up for non-story reasons._

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Riku and Lambda ascended the stairs to Floor B2 with new-found purpose, though they didn't have another World Card this time. They drew close to the Great Door, but suddenly Riku fell to one knee.

"Aagh! What is this? Ansem?" Darkness began to rise from Riku's skin as he was levitated into the air, unable to move.

"Ha ha ha ha... You've let the Darkness in, Riku. You've empowered me. Controlling your body is effortless..." Ansem's voice echoed around the pair, but Lambda wondered how much confidence he really felt. After all, if it was "effortless," wouldn't he already be attacking Lambda or posturing to show off? If all he could do was hold Riku still, that was already very bad, but not as bad as it could be. But what could be done? Riku wasn't unconscious and able to fight Ansem physically in his heart this time.

"I made it!" Another familiar voice squeaked out from behind them, accompanied by a blast of radiance.

The blast of the King's Light blew the Darkness away from Riku. "Argh! Must you interfere again?" Ansem cried out before falling into silence, and dropping Riku onto the floor.

"Phew! I'm glad I got here in time!" Mickey dashed up to the pair as Riku rose from the floor. Something was different this time...

Riku immediately grabbed the King's cheeks and squeezed, finding them solid for the first time in...how long was it? "You're really here! It's not an illusion this time!"

"Whoa! Stop, that tickles!" Mickey chuckled as Riku released the little monarch's head. But then, Riku fell to his knees. "Are you okay, Riku?"

Lambda's scans indicated a variety of stressors and related hormones had just dropped, resulting in a rush of relief, but she decided to just nod to convey that, yes, Riku was okay.

"I'm fine. It's just been a while since I've met someone here that I didn't have to attack right away. It feels safer with you here." Riku stood up again to prove it.

"Well, I'd never let anything happen to you. That Light should keep Ansem locked up for a while." The King looked around, seemingly for the first time.

"Actually, the seal is only about 40% as strong as it was the first time you used it. He'll be back, but I'm not sure how soon. My real question, though, is how did you escape the Realm of Darkness?" Lambda worried that she'd accidentally scared Riku for no reason, but Riku seemed to already know. The look of determination on his face had only sharpened.

"Well...I was wandering around, and suddenly this card appeared!" Mickey produced a World Card with tan buildings arranged around a setting sun. _Twilight Town_. "When I picked it up, I could see your heart, Riku, way out beyond the Darkness! I guess the card thought it belonged with you." Mickey held out the card, and Riku took it gently and looked it over.

"I think you might be right." Riku's expression was hard to read, but he didn't seem disbelieving.

"Do you know of this 'Twilight Town', Riku?" Lambda wondered.

"No. It's just this feeling I have when I look at it. This world is important, or it will be soon. Let's use the card to move on." Riku climbed the stairs and raised the card. The door opened without any additional fanfare compared to the others, and the three friends stepped through.

Immediately, Lambda noticed a serious problem. "Alert, Riku! Mickey's gone! We still have his card, but where is he?"

"Your friend is gone. You must fight alone..." Ansem appeared in his characteristic swirl of Darkness. "...against my dark powers!" Riku and Lambda summoned their weapons, but almost immediately, Riku lowered Soul Eater to his side. "Ha ha...finally giving up, Riku?"

"You're...not Ansem. The Ansem in my heart smells darker, more foul. You have Darkness, too, but your most prominent scent is something else." Riku smiled then. "I know. You're the Voice that got me started journeying through this castle. You pretended to be Ansem and gave us the Hollow Bastion card, to make me face the Darkness."

"...Correct." Ansem's voice blended for a second with another, and he vanished in a swirl of light, binary numbers, and data. Replacing him was a different man, though they couldn't tell anything about him through the crimson bandages wrapped around his face and the long, high-tech-looking cloak he wore. When he spoke again, it was in his true voice. "DiZ, or so I am known. I have been watching you, Riku."

"And what do you want with me?" Riku asked in a wary tone.

"For you to choose."

"Choose what? What is there to choose from?" It would be totally illogical to try to make a choice with no options, but Lambda wondered if Riku was that gullible.

Clearly he wasn't. "I told Vexen, riddles aren't my thing."

DiZ smiled, his mouth and amber left eye the only visible parts of his face."You'll know soon enough. You should meet Namine, then choose. She is on this floor. Stay on your guard, though. She's not the only one here." The mystery man, DiZ, condensed into a ball of light and shot skyward before disappearing in front of the perpetually setting sun.

"Who else do you suppose is here? Vexen, maybe? We haven't heard of him dying, yet." Lambda was in no rush to fight him again, but some closure would be nice.

"No...he's gone, but I don't know if I'd call that 'death'. His scent's gone, but... I'm sure the Nobodies have their own word for it. Sora probably got to him before that Marluxia character. What worries me is Zexion's scent is faint, but still there."

"Well, we'll find them when we find them. And speaking of 'them', we have Air Soldier Heartless incoming!" At Lambda's warning, the two battled Heartless all the way downtown. Literally down, since the whole floor had a constant downward slope. How did that work in a castle? Lambda discarded the error message using the Magic Exception Rule, and crushed a few more Large Bodies.

Soon, the pair arrived at a vast change in scenery behind a Crown Door. (The door had an exceptionally difficult requirement; finding a low-valued blue Door Card was surprisingly tough on this late floor, requiring them to seek out extra Heartless for the first time in a while.) The clearing they found themselves in was bordered by thick forest behind and a brick wall ahead. There was a gate there, but despite the lack of any locks, it didn't open no matter how much the pair tugged. From behind, they heard, "Hold it, Real Thing!"

"And right on cue, the ambush shows up. Murakumo, activate!" Lambda summoned her armor before even turning around. Yes, there was the Riku Replica in Dark Mode. His nickname for the real Riku gave it away. "What do you want now?"

"...Hmph. You've changed. Your own Darkness... it doesn't frighten you anymore." The Replica seemed to have eyes only to glare at Riku, paying no heed to Lambda whatsoever.

"How could you tell?" Riku asked his double.

"Simple. It's because I'm you."

Growl. "No, _I'm_ me."

The Replica kept up his glare for one more second, then dropped eye contact. "'I'm me,' he says. It must be nice, being real. A fake like me could never get away with saying that." The fire returned to the Replica's eyes, a manic blaze that spoke of volumes of painful memories, even though he could only be a few days old at most. "That's right! I'm a fake! A phony! The way I look, the way I feel, _everything I remember!_ And even... this newfound power!" The Replica began to glow with power, and the real Riku gasped.

"You... you absorbed Zexion, didn't you?" That scent was definitely Zexion's, and much stronger during this display of strength.

The Replica continued, and although his voice broke in half sobs, his Soul Eater copy rose in challenge. "Everything about me is borrowed! As long as you're around, I'll never be more than a shadow!" A sphere of Darkness billowed out of the Replica. It swallowed Riku, but shoved Lambda back. Then, it contracted, leaving Lambda alone. But not for long. Replica Riku reappeared in a puff of illusion-smoke. "Miss me, Lambda? I may be a copy of a copy, but you'll find we hit just as hard as the Real Thing!"

"'_We?_'" Lambda asked, but the Replica illusion responded by poofing three more versions of himself onto the battlefield to surround her.

"Zexion's power, remember? You can't reach the actual me or the Real Thing. And as long as I live, my shadows will keep coming at you. Bring it!" Lambda was forced to jump and air-dash over the pile of Replicas as they charged as a group to close in on her. She shot summoned swords at the nearest one, but though he instantly disappeared, the puff of smoke faded to reveal two more. Similar attacks on all the current ones yielded the same results, and soon the clearing was crowded with 10 illusory assailants. Lambda switched from Battle Mode to Guard Mode, which was mostly a software optimization for dodging and blocking more effectively without attacking. Her petal blades whirled around her, fending off illusions from all sides, but they multiplied each time she blocked as well.

Lambda couldn't keep this up forever. "Riku... hurry!"

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Meanwhile, Riku was in a dark space, trading blows directly with the Replica. He'd donned his own D-Mode suit, and their dark powers were matched blow for blow. Dark Firagas collided in the air, followed by air combo clashes and even an ill-fated effort to match Dark Aura attacks, resulting in neither one hitting the other. "Geez, don't you ever give up?" Riku huffed.

"I already gave up," the Replica huffed back. "Do you know what happened upstairs? Namine shuffled my memories with _his_, until we couldn't tell whose were whose. Then it turned out they were all lies! The only thing I have left is a falsehood of a promise: I will protect Namine. And I will, but I can only do that if I can be _me_!" Block. Slash. Dark Firaga. Slash.

"Namine? Did you mean she did that to Sora? DiZ told me to meet her here. It's my only clue to beating Ansem for good, I figure. So I'm getting through here, whether I have to go past you or through you. That way, my heart will be _mine_ again, and I'll get the truth about Namine. I'll save Sora, too, if he's ever in trouble." Block. Dark Shield. The original move surprised the Replica and knocked him down.

"Why? Why does it always have to be Sora? What makes him so special?" The question had frustrated Ansem, Marluxia, and several Organization members Riku had never met. But Riku knew the answer.

"You really wanna know?" Dark Break. "His friends. We are._ His power!_" Each jumping slam punctuated another third of the statement. Riku stood over the battered and defeated form of the Replica. "By ourselves, we're nobody. Even the Nobodies know this; it's probably half of why they made an Organization. Sora knows this most of all. He goes everywhere, does things for people without expecting anything in return, and most of all, he remembers every one of them. I bet he's still planning on re-visiting every world he's ever seen, and giving multiple visits to every world he saved last time, just to be a nice guy to the friends he made there. And because he's so nice, people have given him their strength, even though he would never ask. He's made so many connections, gained so much power, that he's pulled off loads of miracles without even noticing. He saved Kairi way before he made it across the Gummi Routes to Hollow Bastion, and neither he nor I knew it. But it's so obvious now. He helps us, we help him, everyone wins. Except the people who would take advantage of his selflessness, and we're his safety net for that. That's part of why I'm willing to step over your corpse for him, but the real answer is even simpler. For me, at least, he's my first friend. We've been together since we were really little, always competing and having fun. He never gave up on me when I stepped through the Door to Darkness. So I won't give up on him." Riku nodded, to himself and Sora as much as to the Replica.

"Wow, I didn't expect a philosophy class. But...it's nice to think about. I think I get it now." The Replica grunted, and began to fade. The black sphere in which the two fought began to fizzle with static and strands of smoke, revealing the clearing where Lambda was backed into a corner. "I'm sorry, Riku. I'll have to die if you want to save her, too. But before I do, tell me something. What happens when a fake person dies...someone like me? Where will my heart go?"

"It'll go somewhere. Probably... to the same place as mine will."

"A faithful replica to the very end, huh? Heh, heh... That's...okay." The Replica vanished into a wavering Darkness, and the spell he had cast shattered.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Lambda blinked. A second ago, the Replica Rikus had been piling onto her, scratching at her in a slow and torturous manner with their Soul Eaters. It was bringing back memories of...previous timelines? Whatever it was, it made the whole experience even worse and even more painful. But suddenly, all of them were gone. Riku stood nearby, staring at the spot where the "actual" Replica had undoubtedly disappeared. He didn't look triumphant, though. He jerked all of a sudden, and dashed over to Lambda. "Lambda! Are you... no, that's not okay at all. Time to see if the Mickey card still works..." Mickey appeared, in hologram form again, and focused a cone of Light on Lambda, since Riku was unharmed.

"That should do it! Sorry, guys! I'll see you on the next floor!" Mickey vanished again.

"Well, at least he's okay. That healing spell is really impressive. I was at 90% damage and bleeding out, and now I'm all better! You really made it just in time, Riku." Lambda rose from the ground and glomped him, but not before dismissing Murakumo.

"...What was he doing to you?" Riku asked after he got his senses back. This hug was like the one she'd given him in the Realm of Darkness, but...different, somehow. More tender. Maybe...?

"He summoned a bunch of dividing illusions to attack me. After they had me on the ropes, they switched to slow torture rather than quick attacks. It was...really bad, Riku."

"I'm sorry, Lambda. I didn't know. If I'd known, I probably would have spared the Replica the lecture on applied philosophy and Sora. I hope he found peace, though. I'll never forgive him for doing that to you, but people do a lot of really bad things when they're in as much pain as he was. I'm sure Namine knows the rest."

"He did seem... a little more berserk and insane than usual. What did he tell you?"

"His memories were shuffled with Sora's by Namine, and she gave them both the same fake memories. I guess the Organization, or Namine herself, broke the truth to the Replica pretty harshly, because he was mad with grief when he attacked us." Riku grimaced. Who would make a person, even a fake person, to be met with such a terrible fate? Could the Nobodies really be that uncaring?

"Namine? DiZ told us to meet her, but what if she's not an ally?"

"Well, then I'll _choose_ to have some serious words with her. If she tries to fight us, she'll lose. I'm sure of it; no power can defeat me." But that brought up that weirdness with Zexion and the visitors when he pretended to be Sora...

A flash of light happened, and the pair were surrounded by white walls that blended with the floor and ceiling so perfectly that one could hardly tell where in the room they stood, except for the huge capsule in the center of the room. Also, there was a blond girl about Kairi's height facing the capsule, clothed in a plain, white dress and sandals.

"Are you Namine?" Riku called.

The girl turned around. She was pretty, in an ethereal way. Her blond hair draped over one shoulder, but the only real color on her entire body was her deep blue eyes. "Yes, I am."

"I see. So it was you..." Riku mumbled.

"What did you say?" Lambda asked, having not heard him clearly.

"It was nothing. Anyway, Namine, DiZ said I had to make a choice. Mind telling us more?"

"Okay. Come here. You need to see this." Namine stepped aside and turned back towards the capsule.

"What is...is that Sora?"

"Yes. To undo what I did to him under Marluxia's orders, after he freed me from that trap and forgave me for everything I did to him, he has to sleep in here. I'm working hard to put all his memories back the way they were, and when I'm done, he won't remember me or this castle anymore. He _will_ remember you, Kairi, and everyone else he's connected to. That was his choice, and I'll make sure it happens. But right now, you have a choice to make."

"Is it about my memories? But mine haven't been tampered with..."

"No. It's about your Darkness. In your heart is Darkness, and in that Darkness is Ansem. When he breaks free, very soon now, he'll try to wrest your heart from you again. If he succeeds, I don't know what he'll do, but it will be very bad for Sora and everyone else."

"I know that."

"Sorry. Anyway, I can put a stronger lock on him than the King can. He'll never break free again."

"I guess there's a catch, and the catch has to do with what happened to Sora. Will I forget everything, like he did?" Riku gazed at Sora's peaceful, slumbering face, but Riku's own face was in turmoil.

"Yes. You'll stop remembering the Darkness. Everything can be as it was before you stepped through the door. You can return to the Destiny Islands and start fresh. I wouldn't resent you for choosing this road. Anyone else..."

"Keep it," Riku interrupted.

"What?" Namine asked.

"...Look at him, sleeping without a care in the world. Will I sleep that well?"

"Yes."

"Well, I told that kid to look after Kairi, and here he is taking a nap! Even when we were building that raft to get off the Islands, he was always snoozing and left me with the hard work. It's settled. After he wakes up, I'm chewing him out for this. But..." Namine looked up, eyes filled with hope. "...I can't really stick it to him if I've been sleeping myself. Keep your lock. I'll fight Ansem myself. And I'll win."

"But... if his Darkness takes over again..." Namine played devil's advocate, but not very well.

"Then I'll make that Darkness show me the way." Riku gave her a knowing smile.

"Yes. That's true."

"You were the one, weren't you?" Riku noted. "You came to me in the Light, and pretended to be Kairi. You two... smell the same. Thanks, Namine."

"Yes, that was me. You made the right choice, Riku." Namine smiled, and Lambda could see how Sora had forgiven her. She was really very nice, even after having to do not-nice things. Like identity destruction. Even now, Namine was repenting for everything, even if she'd never be truly done with the guilt.

"Why do I get the feeling you already knew what my choice would be?"

"I didn't know. I hoped. Good luck. DiZ will help you get to the final battle, but the rest will be up to you. And, Lambda, sorry for leaving you out of this so far. Will you help Riku out? The road ahead will be a tough one. Shouldering both Light and Darkness isn't something anyone should have to do alone, and though I'm sure Riku can do it, I still think you two make a great team." Namine nodded to Lambda and Riku in turn.

"Of course I'll help him. If he gets stuck, I'll pull him out. There are things I can do to help even if we're apart, too. The last time Ansem took control, we proved that."

"Glad to have you along, Lambda." The room faded out to a Twilight Town-themed Conqueror's Respite. Before they climbed the ladder, Riku asked, "Hey, Lambda? When you hugged me back there... How do I say this..." Man, Riku really wasn't good at working with these feeling things. Sora was always so much more honest with himself, and Riku was just now trying to work it out.

"...I'm not sure if it's love. I don't even know how to define that word. But it's something, and if you'd like, I want to find out with you." Lambda hugged him again, this time with less glomp.

"...I'd like that, Lambda. It'll be good for when we're back together with Sora and Kairi. Maybe he'd be jealous of me for once. Though I'd never bring it up with him." Riku chuckled as he returned the embrace.

"...Somehow, I doubt it. Let's go get rid of Ansem. He'd be a pretty terrible third wheel." Lambda giggled, too, and they climbed the ladder and reached the final basement of Castle Oblivion hand in hand.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

_A/N: And here it is, at last. Level 1 E-Cookies to the people who spotted the really obvious reference to another series in the Replica fight. Let me know if you thought the way I handled it was any good. I based Lambda's half of it on the Vivi clone brawl from KH2's intro. (On the fifth day, Roxas has to fight thirty little one-hit Vivi clones in the Tunnels as part of the Seven Wonders investigation. I always felt sorry when nobody believed him after all those fights.)_

_Next chapter, Chapter 15: "Which Will You Choose?", will probably be the last in this story arc: the fight with Ansem on Floor B1 and the escape from Castle Oblivion. If I do anything further than that, it'll probably be its own story._


	15. Which Will You Choose?

**Dark Clouds**

**Chapter 15: Which Will You Choose?**

_This is it, folks. The final chapter of Dark Clouds! After this, I'm considering making a continuation with either a coherent plotline following 358 Days Over 2 (Yes, that's the proper pronunciation...) or a series of scenes in the same time frame, depending on how well I can stitch them together. This collection will be called "Silver Linings," in keeping with the title of this story and the fact that Riku has silver hair. Anyway, enjoy!_

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Pushing open the door, Riku spotted Mickey. The King spoke first. "Gosh, Riku, I guess you decided not to go to sleep!"

"How did you know?" Lambda asked.

"DiZ told me," Mickey replied, motioning toward the enigma standing farther down the hall. "I can't shake the feeling I've met him before... But I'm pretty sure he's not an enemy."

"Welcome, Riku. Before you face your Darkness, I have some gifts for you," DiZ called as he walked over, carrying a bundle of black cloth. "These are the same cloaks worn by Organization XIII, who still hold sway over Castle Oblivion. Though nearly all the members stationed here have been eliminated by you and Sora, the majority of these powerful Nobodies reside in another stronghold elsewhere in the Realm Between. They know of the events here, and they will pursue you. For this reason, after you have finished your business with Ansem, Namine and I will move Sora, Donald, and Goofy to a more secure place to sleep. You may follow after us, if you so choose. However, your safety and his will be easier to maintain if you wear these cloaks. While you wear the hood, their eyes and their noses will be useless. The ears, however, will not..." DiZ motioned to Mickey's very prominent ears to make his point. "The Organization wear these cloaks to protect themselves while traveling through their Corridors of Darkness. Is it clear? Even the Organization cannot rule the Darkness. Will you still fight it?" DiZ stared at Riku, his words a challenge.

Riku took the coats, noting there were two normal-sized ones for himself and Lambda, and one pint-sized cloak with a modified hood for Mickey. "You sure love pushing choices on other people."

"And you have chosen to push away sleep, and face Ansem," DiZ countered smoothly. "Here. This is the last aid I can offer you." DiZ pulled out a World Card, one depicting a brown castle floating in a void, its towers sticking out at all angles without regard for structural support. _Castle Oblivion_. "The world this card will create will draw the Darkness out of your heart. There, you can bring Ansem to battle on equal terms. However, the odds of actually defeating him are therefore just as even."

"I don't care for the odds." Riku caught the card when DiZ threw it.

"Go, then. Finish your business with Ansem." DiZ disappeared into another swirl of data.

Lambda spoke up. "Riku, I want you to know that you're not fighting alone. I'll be right there with you."

"So will I!" Mickey exclaimed.

"Sorry, Mickey, but I need you to stay behind." Riku replied.

"What? But why?" Mickey yelped. Surely, Riku knew they stood a better chance if they were united?

"There's no point in doing this if I can't do it on my own. But I do have a request. If I lose, Ansem will try to enslave me again. If he does, I want you to destr-"

"Sure, I'll save you!" Mickey interrupted.

"What? I said I wanted you to-"

"No buts! I'm helping you out whether you want me to or not! We're friends now, and I could never leave a friend to die!" Mickey interrupted again.

"I don't think Mickey's going to listen this time, Riku. Besides, I'm going in there with you. We're in this together from here on in." Lambda took Riku's hand, and that was the tipping point.

Riku gave in. "...Okay, guys. You win. Just let me try to handle it first, okay?"

"You got it! Keep my card handy. There are strong Heartless in there." Mickey stepped to the side of the Great Door. Riku raised the final World Card, and the door opened.

This floor looked more like the Entrance Halls than a world of its own. Riku immediately called out, "Alright, Ansem, let's finish this! Come on out!"

Around them, Ansem's voice echoed. "Ha ha ha... Why the rush? I'll be waiting here in the heart of Darkness, watching as you plunge into its depths. Come and find me..."

"Ugh. Every time he speaks, he piles on so much drama! At least this floor only has four rooms." Lambda was right. Floor B1 was uncharacteristically small, and it was a straight shot to the final room, where Ansem was certainly lurking. Then the Heartless made an appearance, surrounding the pair with new, more muscular varieties. "Targets incoming. Two Shadows and eight Neoshadows detected. Those guys look tough. Let's go, Riku!" They launched into battle.

Lambda popped the two regular Shadows almost as soon as they rose from the ground, but the Neoshadows took more hits. They tended to vanish into pools of darkness and rise behind their foes, then spin through the air until they either landed a hit or were blocked. Riku was more than ready for them, though. He could block four such spinning tackles and hit all the Neoshadows with a wide sweep, since blocking the rush left them dazed and clumped around him. Lambda kept the rest at bay with summoned swords, taking advantage of any opening with a melee slash out of an Act Parcer teleport. Soon enough, the Heartless were all defeated, only to be replaced by every sort of magic-wielding Heartless floater they'd seen thus far; a cloud of Red Nocturnes, Blue Rhapsodies, Green Requiems, and Yellow Operas. Such a barrage meant little when their varying elemental weaknesses didn't affect the blade-focused pair. However, dodging the waves of magic and fighting so many Heartless was a tiring endeavor. Riku huffed, "Don't they ever give up?"

"No, but that does seem to be the last wave," Lambda reported as the last Green Requiem was not replaced. "We've got to set up a Moment's Reprieve before we fight Ansem."

"Good idea, Lambda. We'll crush another room of Heartless, then heal up and attack Ansem with our full strength." Riku opened the door with a blue card, called Guarded Trove. He'd never seen a card that mentioned treasure before Twilight Town, and he hadn't gotten a chance to check it out yet. As expected, the room was full of Heartless, including Darkballs and Defenders that were much stronger than the ones they'd last seen way back on Floor B12. Their attack patterns were entirely familiar, though, so it wasn't long before Riku could yank the chest atop the central platform open. "...What? A Keychain? With the Emblem on the Heartless, too..."

"What's a Keychain do? Come to think of it, I saw one of these on Mickey's Keyblade..." Lambda recalled that she'd never seen a Keyblade without one, though she'd only really seen two, both during the incident at Kingdom Hearts where Sora, Riku, and Mickey closed the Door to Darkness.

"Yep. It's what gives a Keyblade its form and power. Sora often swapped out his Kingdom Key's Keychain with others that gave it more power. I guess he didn't in the last battle because he'd learned not to rely on the Keyblade's power. Still, it's kind of useless without attaching it to a Keyblade, and that shape is kind of suspect." Riku was personally sick of seeing that Emblem everywhere.

"I still vote we take it. Maybe it's a sign that you'll get your own Keyblade soon."

"Good point. That would be great!" Riku pocketed the Keychain, and the chest it was in disappeared. The next door yielded to a value of 5 or more, and luckily Riku had a Moment's Reprieve card valued at 7. The pair sat down to rest in the healing point for three minutes, leaving them at full capacity. The next door was the Crown Door. "A combined total of 13? Symbolism aside, that's really easy. Either the next challenge will be a really hard when it shows up, or we're already past the hardest part."

"The next challenge is to eradicate Ansem. I doubt it will be easy. But we're ready. You're ready."

"Right." Riku held up four cards: Strong Initiative, Mingling Worlds, and Feeble Darkness, along with the Key of Beginnings. "I can do symbolism, too." They stepped through into what looked like an empty hall. "Nice try. Come out, Ansem! I can smell you."

Ansem appeared in his characteristic swirl of Darkness. "I have watched you. I know your strength. Your skill with Darkness has grown. It has become more mature. But I do not understand. Why do you accept the Darkness, and yet still refuse me? We are similar. We both follow where the Darkness leads. So why?"

"It's not that you're different. In the end... I just can't stand the way you smell." Riku smirked. "I'm kicking you out of my heart. Don't bother paying rent."

"You fool. You should know better than anyone the sort of true power I command!" Ansem's Guardian appeared behind him.

Riku only smirked more. "Of course I know. Or did you forget? I used all the power you had to give... and Sora still beat me. Your powers aren't very impressive. But I'm not as weak as you anymore."

"Nicely worded, Riku!" Lambda cheered.

Ansem growled. "Fine. Your choice is clear. You will sink into the abyss!" Ansem's wave of dark power washed over the whole room, warping it into a facsimile of the spot where the Door to Darkness once stood. Even as Riku's vision returned, though, Ansem's Guardian threw a punch. Riku barely backflipped out of the way. However, this put him farther away from Ansem than Lambda, and this time Ansem took notice of her. "You, outsider, have been a nuisance to me for far too long. You'll pay for your constant interference. Submit!" Quick as a shot, the Guardian was behind Lambda, and had her off the ground in a full nelson.

"Ah! Riku!" Lambda struggled, but couldn't get into the right position to strike with any of her swords.

Riku saw Ansem close in, slowly, deliberately. Ansem charged a massive ball of Darkness, and Riku dashed forwards to intercept. But he wasn't going to make it in time! As Riku reached out with his free hand, Ansem fired. Riku's heart lurched...forward. Without thinking too hard, Riku stretched that feeling out towards Lambda, and the blast was repelled on a shining barrier of Light. The Guardian recoiled from the burning effect of the shield, its arms already disintegrating. Ansem was taken aback. "No! This cannot be! You have no Light within you!"

"Wrong again, Ansem." Riku's body now shone with a golden aura, proof of the Light he'd rediscovered. Then Riku added his Dark Mode suit, but the Light didn't fade. "You're safe, Lambda. Let's beat this guy together!"

Lambda stood, then jumped over to Riku. "Yeah. I've got a plan to weaken him further. Can you trust me on this one?"

"Of course. What do you have in mind?" Riku asked, while Ansem was still struggling to take a step towards the Light.

"You'll see." Lambda suddenly gave Riku a quick kiss on the cheek, shorting out most of Riku's coherent thoughts. At the same time, his Dark Mode suit vanished...and its emblem appeared on Lambda's chest. "Sorry about that. I needed a little boost for my next move. You're not mad, are you?"

"No..." Riku shook his head, finally clearing out the fuzzy feeling from Lambda's first kiss and allowing him to refocus on the battle. Whatever Lambda did, the Darkness in him had taken a backseat, allowing his Light to shine even brighter. This would probably only last a few minutes, and Lambda was moving to make it count.

"Act Parcer." Ansem knew this move, and dashed backwards out of reach of Lambda's teleport, hoping to keep up the defensive until Riku's Light faded once more. He didn't expect, "Zwei: Blade." Lambda teleported again the instant she appeared, catching up to Ansem and spinning him like a top with a low sweep of her Petal blades. Then she stopped him by the neck with her bare hand. "Restriction 666 released. Dimensional interference force field deployed." Orange rings of energy bound Ansem's arms to his sides and held his Guardian in stasis. Lambda floated upward, her Petals spinning around her faster and faster. "Oh, silver blade forged in the depths of the beyond! Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way!" As Lambda spoke, her Petals glowed and shot skyward, joining with a large, intricate crest that belonged to Lambda alone. From there, the tip of a sword poked out. But not just any sword. Calling this blade "giant" didn't do it any justice. This weapon was sized more for shearing through battleships, and it was pointed squarely at Ansem's foolishly bared chest. "Lay waste!" And the blade came crashing down, pinning Ansem to the crater it formed in the ground by the gaping wound in his chest. Then, the sword exploded into a raging inferno that swallowed Ansem and completely destroyed his Guardian. Yet, defying all logic, Ansem remained mostly intact at the bottom of the crater, and managed to rise to his feet.

"Insolent brat! You can never defeat me, no matter what blades you wield!" Clutching his wound with one hand, Ansem used his free hand to fire a small, but concentrated blast of Darkness at Riku, who was still watching in awe of Lambda's spectacular finishing move. If Ansem could only defeat Riku, this battle could still be his!

Riku reacted with lighting speed, however, interposing Soul Eater and shoving the blast to the side. "Great work, Lambda. Now it's my turn." Riku set his blade behind him and rushed at Ansem. "Here it comes, Ansem! _Zantetsuken_!" As the foreign word left Riku's lips, he flashed ahead, reappearing behind Ansem. The deep wound left by Riku's invisibly-fast lunge suddenly spurted a huge volume of Darkness. "Bulls-eye. It's over, Ansem!"

Ansem faltered. Could it be possible that Riku had won? Even so, "This is hardly...the end! Your Darkness...I gave...all of it to you! My dark shadow lingers...someday...someday, I will return!" Ansem exploded, the body he'd stolen from Riku finally giving way. The Darkness within what used to be Ansem flooded outward and filled the room, dragging both Riku and Lambda into its depths one last time.

"Where...?" All around them was black, but Riku and Lambda were still bathed in a sphere of Light from Riku as they held hands. Even so, that Light was finally beginning to fade.

"Scanning...Current location is the Realm of Darkness." Riku's emblem had faded from Lambda's chest, and his Darkness had returned to Riku's heart...where it belonged, for better or worse.

"That was an awesome move, Lambda! I never knew you had that much power!"

"I didn't. Like I said, I needed an extra boost from you. Your move was cool, too! What did you call it? 'Zantetsuken?"

"Yeah. I...actually got it from a comic book about a spirit named Odin. The word means 'Iron-cutting sword,' and in the books, Odin could fell enemies in one stroke if he pulled it off perfectly, regardless of how strong they were. It just seemed like a fitting move to use to finish Ansem. But even though he's gone, we're stuck here. Now what? Sora..." The Light was almost gone, too...

"There you are!" The King's voice reached the pair, followed by his sparkling Light. "I know you wanted to do this yourselves, but you don't mind a _little_ help, do ya?" Mickey pulled the victorious pair out of the Realm of Darkness by their joined hands, and they appeared in Castle Oblivion's atrium.

"Mickey! How did you find us?" Lambda wondered.

"C'mon, Light isn't that hard to find. Great work, you two! What are you gonna do now? Are you going home, Riku?"

A good question... "Not just yet. Sora's still sleeping. And Ansem's scent... It's barely there, but it's there. His Darkness may still have a hold on me." Riku clutched his chest.

"Your Darkness belongs to you. Just the same way your Light does!" Mickey jumped up and dragged Riku's hand back to his side. "Y'know, I used to think Darkness was nothing but bad. Then I spent time with you, and changed my mind." Riku gasped. Mickey continued, "The road you chose...I didn't know. Light and Darkness, back to back? With you, they might mingle in a way nobody's ever seen before. And if it's okay... I'd like to walk the road with you, and find out where it leads. That's a request from my heart."

"I'd be glad to have you along, Your Majesty. Thank you." Riku knelt down.

"Aw, c'mon. We're friends now, right?" Mickey extended his hand.

Riku grasped it. "Fair enough, Mickey."

"I'll be with you the whole way!" Lambda laid her hand on top of theirs, then they broke contact and left Castle Oblivion behind, after changing into the cloaks DiZ had given them. Lambda confirmed that the outfit would simply disappear if she entered Battle Mode, and reappear afterward, to Riku's relief.

Outside Castle Oblivion was a seemingly endless dirt road, surrounded on all sides by tall, swaying grass. Just ahead, the road split into four. And at the center of this crossroads stood DiZ.

Riku called ahead, "What are you making me choose this time?"

"Will you follow the road to Light..." DiZ indicated the dirt path on his right, "...or the road to Darkness?" To his left, the road stretched to infinity.

Riku walked right past him, going straight ahead on the path he was already following. Lambda and Mickey hurried to catch up. "Neither suits me. I'm taking the middle road."

Without turning to look as Riku passed, DiZ asked, "Would that be the twilit road to nightfall?"

"No." Riku called over his shoulder. "It's the road to dawn."


End file.
